Meaningful
by HellIsHere
Summary: Starts during summer before Harry's sixth year. Ron reflects on the Department of Mysteries fiasco and how he sees himself in relation to Harry and Hermione. He doesn't like his conclusions. He never really saw himself as special or important or even meaningful, but he's going to discover how wrong he was... R/Hr, M for mature content in later chapters.
1. A heart to heart

**If any of you are reading the "Harry and John" series, don't worry - it's still being worked on, but I had an idea for another really long story, and if it works out right, this may be another series! I hope you enjoy it!**

**Third person POV**

A warm, lazy July afternoon at the Burrow was one of Ron's favourite situations. He had (with Hermione's nagging through her letters) finished his holiday homework, had no chores for the day left, and could simply do as he pleased. And his decision was to take a walk to a nearby pond, and relax by the side of it, with his feet dipped into the water.

His dreams of late had been about the night at the Department of Mysteries. About Harry. Voldemort. _Sirius..._

His time alone at the pond allowed him to try and come to terms with what happened just two weeks ago. He hadn't had any extended amounts of time alone with his thoughts, save for the nights where he would inevitably think about it, but only with a tired mind and heavy eyelids. Now, wide awake, Ron could truly try to get over the events of that night.

The first thing he felt was sorrow for both Harry and Sirius. Harry's life had been hard enough, and now the closest thing he knew to a father had been cruelly ripped away from him. Sirius' life wasn't much better - an insane family, years in prison for something he never did, being trapped in the house where as a child he was tormented, and to top it all off, only after his death was he was found innocent.

What an insult. Sirius was one of the best people Ron had met. So much resilience, strength and compassion. All of his potential was wasted. By a coward. It all came down to Wormtail again.

Of course it did.

The mere thought of the traitorous ex-Marauder made Ron's blood boil. He tried to get his mind off it and bring it back to the incident at the Department of Mysteries. He felt that if he didn't come to peace with it now, he wouldn't get many more chances soon. Hermione was due to arrive at the burrow soon.

Normally the thought of the intelligent, bushy-haired witch would make Ron smile, but now, it made him feel pathetic. He found out what happened to her. Dolohov hit her with an unknown curse which he wasn't there to take in her stead. After he found that out, Ron swore to himself that he'd do everything in his power to keep Hermione safe and happy.

If it meant doing his own homework, so be it. If it meant letting Hermione start going out with Krum or whoever, without saying a word, so be it.

_If it meant Ron dying for her, so be it._

**Ron POV**

I've never really thought about this, but I reckon mine and Hermione's friendship with Harry's going to get us into some serious shit. For all my uselessness and my shortcomings, I'm at least useful for one thing. I won't hesitate to take a hit for them. It's not like I was going to amount to much anyway...

But Harry? Hermione? Blimey, they were going to have the world at their feet! They could do whatever they want. Provided that Harry succeeds.

The prophecy really makes me feel for Harry - having to kill... him before he gets killed... it's bloody terrifying. I wish I could switch places with him. Ironically it's not to have the good stuff he has this time. I just want his suffering to end. It's about time he got something good into his life, and now he finds out he has to kill a fucking dark lord!

**Third Person POV**

Ron's thoughts about Harry eventually brought him back to Hermione. Before last year, he had no idea why he looked at Hermione differently to other girls, but he figured it out. Teaspoon or not, his emotional depth was enough to work out that he was in love with her. However, he had never really admitted it to himself. He was always preoccupied with Harry or something else.

"Blimey." he mumbled to himself.

He began to impatiently wonder where Hermione was. Taking his feet out of the cool pond, he looked out at the horizon, to see that the sun was just beginning to set. Since it was summer that meant it was probably about six o'clock - Hermione was probably arriving soon.

As he began to stand up, Ron suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

With a yelp, Ron leapt forwards, which unfortunately lead him into the pond, which was deeper than he thought - his feet didn't even touch the bottom.

Treading water, he looked up to see the very thing he was just thinking about, the object of his affections, and the cause of so many of his frustrations, looking more beautiful than ever, blushing with her hands over her mouth. Her hair wasn't quite as bushy as usual, and she looked... somehow more Hermione-ish than he remembered. It didn't make much sense in his head anyway...

"Oh Ron, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that!" Hermione exclaimed, embarrassed.

"It's alright, I'm just feeling a bit jumpy." said Ron, climbing out of the pond.

"I'd hug you but..." Ron added, motioning to his now soaked body.

Hermione giggled for a moment.

"It's really good to see you though. I've really wanted to talk to you alone after..." Hermione trailed off.

Ron knew what she was talking about.

"I've been thinking about it too. You reckon Harry's going to get like he was at the beginning of last year? I wouldn't blame him mind you. Poor bloke's been through way too much." said Ron, taking his freezing shirt off.

Hermione blushed, looking at Ron's shirtless body. He certainly wasn't a lanky fourteen year old any more. Or anywhere near lanky. Here he was, sixteen, and built like an athlete. Toned muscles, broad chest and... Oh God. That V-cut bellow the stomach that drove her crazy! Looking up, however, she saw scars. And plenty of them. Mostly from the battle of the Department of Mysteries she presumed. They were definitely healed, but still distinct. Although he gained them in a life or death situation which he shouldn't have even been in, she thought they made him look... even sexier.

She tried to push those thoughts away to respond to Ron's statement.

"Oh I know, I wish we could do something! Sirius was all the family he had left." Hermione said, sadly.

"Hey, I don't think so. I reckon we're his family. My family and you." Ron said, encouragingly.

"That's so sweet of you Ron! Whatever Harry ends up going through, he's so lucky to have you there with him!" Hermione replied, hugging him, before becoming fully aware that he had no shirt on.

Blushing, she let him go.

"Sorry." she mumbled.

"S'OK. Shall we head back to the Burrow?" Ron asked, his ears going red after realising that Hermione had not only seen him shirtless, but now touched him as well. He was proud of the results of his new exercise and diet, but...

"Yes. Your mother said that she's making roast chicken and potatoes, so I'm assuming that you'll want to be there soon." Hermione replied, grinning at him.

"In that case, what are we waiting for?"

* * *

When they arrived at the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley was the first to notice.

"Ron, why on Earth are you soaked and not wearing your shirt?" she asked, suspicious.

"Well I was at the pond, and Hermione scared the shi- err living daylights out of me." Ron replied, smirking at a blushing Hermione.

"Sorry Mrs. Weasley." Hermione mumbled.

"Not to worry dear, now Ron, just get changed and I'll put a drying charm on those clothes." said Mrs. Weasley.

Ron nodded and stomped up the stairs, to do just that, knowing that roast chicken awaited him.

Of course, he wasn't disappointed - Mrs. Weasley, as usual had prepared a diner fit for royalty, and Ron, as usual inhaled his food. He ate roughly twice as much as Hermione in just over half the time.

Ginny was, as per normal disgusted at Ron's rate of consumption, making a face as he did what he did best. Eat inordinate amounts of food.

Once they were finished, however, Hermione turned to Ron.

"Ron, can I come up to your room? There's a lot I want to talk to you about." said Hermione, standing up.

"Sure, let's head there now." said Ron.

Hermione didn't notice Ginny's wink and smirk, but Ron did, and he replied with a scowl.

However, it was long gone by the time they reached Ron's room.

"So Hermione, what's up?" Ron asked.

"I was just thinking about what you said about Harry." Hermione began.

"Yeah?"

"I really meant what I said. Harry is lucky to have you around. I am too." Hermione said.

"Really? I thought I just held you two back..." Ron mumbled.

Hermione was shocked.

"Ron! How can you think that!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Well you've said it before yourself - I'm lazy, not as clever as either of you and apparently have the emotional range of a teaspoon." Ron said, all in one breath, looking down at his feet.

Hermione wanted to try and remind him that she had also said a lot of good things about Ron over the years, but with a shock, realized that her complements directed at Ron were few and far between. She also realized that she spent a _lot_ more time pointing out his flaws. She was furious with herself and wanted to cry at the same time. She was fixating on Harry, who was deprived of affection most of his life, without recognizing that she may have only fed Ron's insecurities.

It wasn't exactly hard to complement a person as wonderful as Ron, so why didn't she do it? Ron may have thrown his fair share of angry words Hermione's way over the years, but always remembered to tell her that she was brilliant.

"Oh Ron... I'm so sorry." She said, softly hugging him.

"You're wonderful Ron, I'm sorry I never really told you that, and I don't even know why. " she said, realizing that she was trembling.

"But I'm not. And why are you trembling?" Ron asked.

"Yes you are! And I'm trembling because I feel awful at the way I've treated you! I'm supposed to be your friend, and I've just criticized you for five years in a row!" Hermione wailed.

She inwardly scoffed at herself. She says she loves him and despite his difficulty at understanding the emotions of others, she gives him almost nothing to go on!

"Well, as much as I hate to admit you're right... again... there's a lot to criticize isn't there? I reckon it's about time I tried to grow up and try and be a better bloke. Like dad, Bill or Charlie." said Ron.

To say Hermione was impressed was an understatement. She may have loved Ron as he was, but the fact that he had just acknowledged his flaws and expressed a desire to mature almost made her jump on him and snog him then and there. She restrained herself, however. She also noted that he may have gained this new outlook for less than ideal reasons (notably near-death experiences).

But there wasn't much wrong with Ron anyway, he wasn't perfect, but in Hermione's eyes, he was close. Immaturity and laziness were things that could easily go on their own, and aside from that, there wasn't much wrong with Ron.

"Ron, do you realize that there are only two real problems with you? You can be immature and lazy, but those are only two problems, which should go on their own... I shouldn't have fixated on them, I'm sorry." said Hermione.

"No, you're right. It really is time I grew up. My friendship with Harry is probably the most important thing in my life right now, and he's not getting much out of an immature, lazy prat, is he?" Ron asked.

"You're so much more than that! Harry is a really intense person, and I think I am too. We both need you to be able to calm us down, make us laugh or relax, and there are few people who are as good as you at that. Without you, I don't think my own friendship with Harry would be anything like it actually is. You're like our glue Ron." Hermione explained, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Really?" Ron asked, looking up at her and smiling.

Hermione smiled back, giving Ron his answer.

"Thanks Hermione! Blimey, I thought I was useless." said Ron.

"I'm sorry if I ever made you feel that way Ron. You're not." Hermione said, still warmly smiling at him.

The two of them fell into a comfortable silence, before Ron brought up the all-important best friend of theirs.

"Hermione, what about Harry? He's probably crushed right now. I've sent letters, but he doesn't seem the same in his replies. He seems... short, distanced even." said Ron.

"I think he's just trying to avoid feeling anything altogether after what happened to..." Hermione began, before tears began welling up in her eyes. A few trickled down her face.

Ron reacted by doing something Hermione would never have expected from Ron. He wiped the tears off her face, brushing her chin with his thumb afterwards.

"I miss him too." he said, solemnly.

Those four words allowed Hermione to finally break down. She sobbed into Ron's chest, lamenting the loss of Sirius Black, one of the bravest men they had ever come across. She also lamented the horror that their best friend had to endure as part of his life. He was too young for this, yet he was up against the definition of merciless.

"It's not fair! Harry's too young for this! Sirius didn't deserve any of it!" She choked out.

Seeing Hermione, one of the most important people in his life, and the girl of his dreams so broken and distraught almost made Ron cry too. But he remained resolute in trying to remain strong, and held her as she vented her emotional burdens.

When she was done, instead of looking at Ron's face, she looked at his shirt.

"That's the second shirt I've done that to today." she said.

Looking down, Ron realized that his shirt was soaked. Hermione really cried a lot about it all. Understandably though.

Ron smirked. Hermione could still make him smile in such an emotionally vulnerable state.

"Ron, thank you for being here for me. I'm sorry about your shirt." Hermione said, both gratefully and sheepishly.

"It's no problem. I'll just leave it out on the windowsill. It's a warm night after all." said Ron.

"Goodnight Ron. Thanks again." said Hermione, heading towards Ginny's room, where she was going to sleep.

Ron continued to think of Hermione that night. He could hardly believe that he hadn't acknowledged that he loved her earlier. He had done so for about two years, and didn't admit it to himself.

He also thought about the things she said to him. How he was better than he was given credit for, especially by Hermione herself. He smiled at the thought that Hermione thought so highly of him. Before then, he thought himself relatively useless, but that particular insecurity was almost single handedly destroyed by Hermione's praise of him.

Hermione not only occupied his thoughts then. She consumed them.

_I wish I could have been a better friend to him._

**Ron POV**

What? That was Hermione's voice. Why can I hear it?

_He deserves a better friend than me. I have to be the friend he needs from now on. I can't believe he thinks so poorly of himself!_

Alright... that's definitely her voice. Why in the name of Merlin's left nut can I hear her voice?

I'll just wait and see if I hear it again... Maybe I'm just thinking about her too much.

* * *

Well it's been a few minutes, and I've not heard it again. Maybe I'm just thinking about her too much. My thinking process isn't being helped by the fact that I'm bloody tired... I should go to sleep.

But why did I hear about her wanting to be a better friend to me? I should probably stop thinking about it, my mind's probably playing tricks on me.

Yeah. That's it. I'm fine, nothing weird's going on. I'm just tired.

**First chapter there for you. Ron's done some self-evaluation and came to some overly harsh conclusions. Also, why was he randomly hearing Hermione's voice? Stay tuned, and I'll give you more ;)**


	2. Newfound power

The next week or so went by without incident, and despite the very emotional talk between Ron and Hermione, the rest of their interactions were far more light-hearted.

When Harry arrived, however, the discussions became much more serious.

"I don't know what Dumbledore wants from this Slughorn bloke, but what I do know is that Slughorn taught Voldemort when he was at shcool. Maybe Slughorn knows something that Dumbledore doesn't?" Harry wondered.

"Yeah, and you said the Death Eaters were trying to recruit him? Maybe it's something that Slughorn has that both sides want. Good thing Dumbledore got there first." said Ron.

"Actually, Dumbledore's been trying to recruit him for as long as the Death Eaters. Weeks. The thing is, the reason why Slughorn said yes to teaching is that he has a love for teaching students who go on to be famous. I'm already famous." said Harry.

"That's awfully shallow isn't it?" Hermione asked, dissaprovingly.

"Yeah but I don't really care right now. I'll be having regular meetings with Dumbledore about the whole Voldemort situation. I'll tell you whatever we find out or talk about." Harry promised.

"Blimey, it's got that serious..." Ron pondered out loud.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Well I know he had his reasons, but last year, Dumbledore didn't tell Harry anything. Now suddenly, he's going to tell Harry everything he knows, everything he figures out. It sounds a bit weird if you think about it, but it must be getting bad..." said Ron.

"You're right. Dumbledore was intent on keeping Harry away from it all, protect him in a way, but now he's turned around by a hundred and eighty degrees and telling Harry everything." said Hermione.

_When did Ron get so insightful?_

"Pardon?" Ron asked.

Hermione looked at him, confused.

"Was there something I said?" Hermione asked. Harry was looking at Ron with the same confused expression.

"You asked when I got so insightful. How did you do that without opening your mouth?" Ron asked.

"I _didn't_ say that Ron. I... I thought it." said Hermione, shocked, staring at Ron as if he'd sprouted an extra head.

"Are you sure? Harry did you hear her ask that?" Ron asked.

"No. She said nothing after that comment about Dumbledore telling me everything. If she said she thought it, then she thought it. She's not one to think out loud." said Harry.

"Alright... how did I do that?" Ron asked, feeling worried.

"I don't know. I thought that the _leginimens _spell that Harry saw Snape use was the only way to read thoughts... have you been reading all of my thoughts?" Hermione asked, alarmed.

"No! I just heard you asked about me being insightful. But... the night you arrived, I did hear you thinking about... well, our friendship when you left the room. I thought I was just tired and hearing things." said Ron.

All thought of Dumbledore was forgotten. This was... strange. To say the least.

"Ron, think very carefully. Has there ever been a time before the night I arrived that this happened?" Hermione asked him, seriously.

Ron thought back hard, wondering if he'd ever heard someone's voice randomly in his head, but that had never happened before.

"No. The night you arrived was the first time that happened. I didn't even realize that I heard your thoughts." Ron explained.

_Why did he start then? What could have sparked that?_

This time, Ron heard Harry's voice.

"Harry... I think I just heard your thoughts too." said Ron.

"What? Alright, what did I think about?" Harry asked.

"You were wondering what could have sparked this ability to hear thoughts." said Ron.

Harry's eyes widened. He nodded, unable to say a word.

"How are you doing that!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I-I don't know! I don't think I can control it, it just sort of happens." said Ron.

"Ron, you need to write to professor Dumbledore about this. He might know something about it." said Harry.

"Yes, and until then, we need to work out what the trigger is." said Hermione.

"I can't control it, so what do you mean?" asked Ron.

"Well, whatever it is, we know that it's an ability of yours, and there must be something causing it. It must be a subconscious reaction to something that we might be doing." said Hermione.

Ron nodded, slowly, beginning to understand what Hermione was saying.

* * *

Ron did as Hermione asked and wrote to Dumbledore, but it wasn't until a week later, the morning before they left for King's cross station next day, that he got his reply. He read it out to Harry, while Hermione was sleeping in, under Ron's insistence.

"Mr._ Weasley,_

_Thank you for taking the time to write to me, and, save for your issue, I hope you are well._

_I have thought long and hard about this new-found 'ability' of yours, but I cannot think of any personal experiences where I have known this to happen. The only way of reading minds that I was aware of is the skill of leginimency. However, I combed the Hogwarts library, and found something very interesting indeed. I found that, hundreds of years ago, there were an order of wizards, a group of no more than twenty in Britain, who possessed the ability to hear the thoughts of whomever they chose._

_They were a very select order, and they were constantly on the lookout for those with similar powers to yours, albeit they were raw and uncontrollable, which is just how you described it. The last of them died over one hundred and fifty years ago, and their powers were thought to have died with them. I am unsure as to why these powers revealed themselves to you so recently, but our knowledge of such abilities is very limited, seeing as there were only a few with such abilities and they were thought to have died out._

_If you could come with Mr. Potter at eight o'clock in the evening on the eighth of September, perhaps we can make sense of this. I already know that Mr. Potter would tell you what we find out about Voldemort, so no harm would be done. Your own insight could prove valuable as well._

_Yours in confidence,_

_Albus Dumbledore_"

After reading it aloud, Harry was awestruck. Ron was practically a living relic into the past with this new-found power.

"Ron... we need to figure out where you got this from!" Harry exclaimed.

"It's a bit hard considering that I haven't heard anyone's thoughts in days." said Ron.

"Should we wake Hermione? Surely with her help we can get this." Harry asked.

"No, she's been up late almost every day reading everything she can on this. It's about time she got a long sleep in. It's the holidays and she's sacrificing sleep for me, so she deserves it." said Ron.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. What do you suppose Dumbledore's going to talk to us about when we discuss your powers?" asked Harry.

"He's probably going to ask me what I already know, and maybe about some of my experiences. He might be able to spot patterns we can't." said Ron.

"You're probably right. But have you noticed any patterns at all?" Harry asked.

"No. But as Hermione's noted in the past, I'm not the most observant bloke around." Ron said, smirking.

"Neither am I in all fairness. She makes up for it on her own though." Harry replied, smirking back.

"She makes up for a lot of our stupidity though, doesn't she?" Ron asked.

"Yeah. I doubt we'd have passed any of our OWLs without her." said Harry, referring to their better-than-expected results.

"But of course, you look at hers, and all she can think about is getting an E in Defence, and she even thinks it's disappointing." Ron added, smiling at Hermione's studious attitude.

"You know, I think this is the latest we've ever seen Hermione sleep to." said Harry, pointing out that it was ten o'clock.

"Yeah, and I sometimes just sleep until twelve. I don't know how she does it." said Ron.

"It's a little trait called discipline Ron." came Hermione's voice from the stairs.

"Good morning you two." she said, smiling at them.

" 'Morning Hermione Sleep well?" Harry asked.

"Yes, thanks. So has Dumbledore replied yet?" Hermione asked.

"Straight to it I see. Well yes, he has. Give it a read. I'll make you some breakfast. Mum's gone grocery shopping and Ginny's out in the village." said Ron, handing Hermione Dumbledore's letter.

"Thank you Ron, but you don't have to make me breakfast." said Hermione, smiling as she took the letter.

"Yeah, but why not?" said Ron, heading to the kitchen.

Hermione looked at Harry.

"He's really making an effort, isn't he?" Hermione asked.

"Effort at what?" Harry asked.

"Maturing. He told me when I arrived that he wants to try and grow up. It's nice to know that he listens." said Hermione.

"He actually listens to you a lot more than you'd realize. He's just pretty forgetful, but stuff you say generally matters to him a lot." said Harry.

"We did talk for a while when I arrived. I don't know why I didn't have that talk with him earlier, I've had five years to do it." said Hermione.

"At least you did it. He told me last night that he'd never felt special until you had that talk with him. I honestly felt like an idiot, but he said that it's fine. I guess I really lucked out meeting him on the train all those years ago." said Harry.

"I felt horrible too. I call myself his friend, but that was the first time I'd realized that I'd barely ever said anything encouraging to him." said Hermione.

"Well he certainly knows how to forgive. Shall we?" Harry asked, motioning towards the kitchen.

"After you." said Hermione.

Hermione followed Harry into the kitchen, and immediately smelled some of the most delicious smelling bacon and eggs she had ever smelled.

"Wow Ron, when did you learn how to cook? That smells delicious." said Hermione.

"Over this summer. I haven't needed to cook since mum's always around, but since she's shopping, you'll have to contend with my cooking I'm afraid." said Ron, smirking at her.

"It doesn't smell like it will be any worse." Hermione replied, smiling at Ron, trying to ignore her rumbling stomach.

Hermione proceeded to read the letter, and had a similar reaction to Harry.

"Ron... you're a living relic!" said Hermione.

Harry smirked, noting how that was exactly what He himself had thought.

"Well, I don't ever remember being like this before, is there anything we've done which may have given me these powers at all?" Ron asked, setting down a plate of bacon, eggs and toast for Hermione.

"No, not that I can remember." said Harry.

Hermione thought for a moment.

"It's a long-shot. But what about the brains? At the Department of Mysteries?" She said, before taking a bite of her breakfast.

"Blimey. Hermione, I think you're right, what if the Ministry kept the brains of that order of mind-readers?" Ron asked, his eyes wide.

"It's a possibility. But it's disgusting don't you think? Keeping brains in jars? Especially when those brains were actually animated, and they ended up attacking you!" Hermione said.

"Well we don't even know if it was the brains, but yeah, it is sick." said Ron.

The three of them fell into an uncomfortable silence as Hermione ate. Hermione then chose to break the silence.

"Ron, this is really good." she said, appreciatively.

"Thanks." Ron replied, smiling.

Hermione finished off her breakfast, eating faster than Ron had ever seen her eat. He didn't know why, but that in particular made him feel particularly proud. It wasn't exactly a grand gesture or anything, but he felt like he had genuinely accomplished something.

It was probably the fact that it was _Hermione_ who was enjoying the food that made him so proud.

_He really is maturing, I hope this ability won't hurt him. I hope Dumbledore can figure out what this all means._

"I'm sure he will Hermione." said Ron.

Harry looked at him, confused, while Hermione, who wasn't expecting that, was the first to reply.

"Ron, you just did it again!" she said.

"Err... sorry?" Ron tried, not knowing what to say.

"No, don't be, just tell me what you were thinking about right before you heard my thoughts!" Hermione explained, quickly.

"Err, OK. I was just feeling proud that you enjoyed the food I made. Nothing that really sticks out to be honest." said Ron.

Hermione's face fell.

"Sorry I got so worked up. I just hoped we might have stumbled across a breakthrough.

"Just out of curiosity, what did you say 'I'm sure he will' to? And also, could you try not to reply to thoughts? It would definitely freak me out if you did that randomly." said Harry.

"Sorry. And I'm not sure if I can tell you, I mean it's Hermione's thoughts, and aren't they private?" Ron asked, looking at Hermione.

"Thank you Ron. At least you can keep things private if you accidentally hear my thoughts. But this one is alright. I was just hoping that this ability of Ron's doesn't hurt him and that Dumbledore can make sense of all of this." said Hermione.

"What if I can control it one day though? I mean, would you be alright with me reading your minds? And whose minds _should_ I try to read?" Ron asked.

"We can't stop you from reading our minds Ron, but I know I'd prefer it if you didn't. Although if you do learn to control it, if you manage to read some Death Eaters' or even Voldemort's mind, then you could turn into the best weapon we have..." Harry mused aloud.

Hermione's eyes widened.

Ron, however seemed to remain unfazed.

"But how would this thing work on people who are good at occlumency? No offence, but you're not exactly a decent occlumens Harry, and I can read your thoughts easily. Although I'm still doing it by accident." said Ron, thoughtfully.

"Ron, that's... a really insightful thought." Hermione said, impressed.

"And that's surprising?" Ron replied, smirking.

"No! I didn't mean... You're just messing with me aren't you?" Hermione replied, sighing.

"Sorry." Ron said, with a sheepish grin.

"It's alright. For the record though, I don't think it's strange to hear you say something intelligent though." said Hermione, with Ron's insecurities in mind.

"Yeah I know. Or at least, I do now, you know after that... that talk." said Ron.

Hermione nodded, thinking back to the all-important talk she had with Ron, and how much she had learned in such a short period of time about Ron.

"Blimey guys, what happened on that talk you two had?" Harry asked.

"I think Ron and I finally came to an understanding. We both admitted our shortcomings with regards to our friendship, and agreed to work on them." Hermione said, in a business-like tone.

Harry looked at Ron.

"What she said." Ron said, causing Harry and Hermione to snicker for a moment.

* * *

**Ron POV**

I know I'm going back to Hogwarts tomorrow, but I can't stop thinking about Harry's problems. He's my best mate and one of the best blokes I can think of, and he's been dealing with absolute shite all his life, and it's only going to get worse.

Blimey, I've been thinking about this until one? I'd better get to sleep, Hermione's going to have my head if I don't wake up on time. And that's assuming she gets to tear it off before mum does...

Still though, what can I do to help him? I can't control this bloody mind-reading ability, so that's useless, Hermione's best at spells and knows bloody everything, and then there's me. The guy needs some proper help. If Dumbledore can help me sort out these problems, I'd be able to help Harry. Properly for once.

It's what he needs and deserves anyway.

_I wonder what sort of stuff Dumbledore's got planned on the eighth. Maybe he's got ideas for some sort of weapon to deal with Voldemort. Maybe he's going to train me? I can't wait, but at the same time, when I go... it'll feel like it's already started. To be fair, I sort of started the war myself._

Fucking hell, that's Harry's thoughts! How am I doing this?

OK, calm down Ron, just think of something that doesn't get you all worked up. Think about mum's roast lamb. With potatoes and gravy. With some Yorkshire pudding...

Oh great now I'm hungry.

This is going to be a long night...


	3. The Return of the King

Ron always hated waking up early in the morning, but today was different, as he was now heading back to Hogwarts. He didn't know what to expect - the atmosphere at Hogwarts would certainly be different to what he was used to, with all the disappearances and Voldemort gaining power. However, he was still looking forward to it - he wouldn't have to deal with Ginny on a daily basis for one thing, and he could hopefully make sense of his whole mind-reading thing with Dumbledore's help.

The train journey began in a relatively uneventful manner, however, Harry's arrival at the feast was both late and shocking. He turned up with a bloody nose, an almost entirely red tissue, and Luna in tow.

"Harry, what the hell did you do? Get into a fight with the train?" Ron asked.

"This was Malfoy. He stunned me and stamped on my face. Simple as that." Harry replied, gloomily.

"You let _Malfoy _do that to you?" Hermione asked.

"He caught me off-guard, alright?" Harry snapped.

"Harry, what were you doing?" Hermione asked, suspiciously.

"I was under the cloak, listening to what Malfoy had to say. Something's definitely not right with him. I'm telling you he's joined them." said Harry in a hushed voice.

"While I don't doubt he's met You-Know-Who, I don't think he's got the guts to be one of them. Besides, what would You-Know-Who want with a cowardly shit like him?" Ron asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." said Harry.

"No you're not. It's not going to help at all when Malfoy isn't the real threat! You know exactly who the real threat is!" Hermione reminded him.

Harry sighed, deciding not to push the topic any further.

Dumbledore chose that moment to give his annual welcome speech, which this time was much more somber than usual. He talked about how Voldemort was once just a schoolchild like the majority of the hall. He then talked about how the death eaters' greatest weapon was within each and every schoolchild there.

"What a nice, cheerful way to get us off to a school year." said Ron.

"It was necessary though. Think about how serious the death eater threat is becoming with all the disappearances, and how easy it might be to just join with them in fear of what they'd do to their enemies." said Hermione.

"Yeah we _know_ what they'd do to their enemies." Harry said, darkly.

"Not something I want to think about right now. Why don't we just go to bed?" asked Ron.

"Agreed." said Hermione, and the three of them headed off to their dormitories.

When Neville, Seamus and Dean had slept off, Ron and Harry were still awake and thinking about everything that they may or may not face in the near future, with Ron's new powers, Harry being marked by Voldemort as the highest priority target and juggling it all with school life.

"Harry, you awake?" Ron asked.

"Yeah. What's up?" Harry replied.

"I'm just thinking about the stuff we've been dealing with, and I get the nasty feeling that it's going to get worse, you know what I mean?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, I do. I mean second year was bad, but I feel like something worse will happen. Maybe not this year or next year, but some day, something massive is going to happen and we're all going to get hurt. And there's not much we'll be able to do about it." said Harry.

"This is all happening while the stuff that should be bothering us is girls and school work." said Ron, dryly.

Harry snickered for a moment.

"Doesn't mean that girls and school work doesn't bother me." said Harry.

"Me neither. Anyone in particular?" Ron asked.

"Well there's the fact that girls are going crazy with the whole chosen one thing with me." said Harry.

"Shallow sluts." Ron said bluntly.

"Yeah, that's how I'd put it myself." said Harry, laughing.

"So what about you?" Harry asked, knowing which girl was actually on his mind.

Harry noticed that he'd never really talked to Ron regarding Hermione in the way he was trying to at this moment. But whether or not Ron admitted it, Harry knew and he would get it out of him.

"Err... yeah, but can you not tell her if I told you?" Ron asked.

"Why would I?" Harry asked, smirking.

"I dunno, it's just something I don't want her to know. At least not yet." said Ron.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. So who is it?" Harry asked, the smirk still on his face.

"Hermione." said Ron, sighing.

"I'm not surprised. In fact, I figured as much." said Harry.

"What?" Ron asked, more than a little surprised.

"Yeah, other people might not have guessed but I spend too much time with the two of you to not figure it out." said Harry.

"Crap, does anyone else know?" Ron asked.

"I think Ginny's got suspicions but she's not too sure." Harry replied.

"Hope it stays that way." Ron commented, thinking about what Ginny would do if she found out.

"Now that it's out in the open for me, why not tell Hermione herself?" Harry asked.

"Well the idea makes me want to shit myself if I'm honest. She's so bloody clever and way more mature than me, so I'm not sure why she'd want to go out with me. Besides, isn't there some unwritten rule about not dating friends? I think I'd rather go out with someone else because she'd probably prefer someone mature or sensible. That and I don't want to screw up and wreck our friendship." Ron replied.

"But some girls absolutely love the idea of falling for their best friends. Fair enough, we've never talked to Hermione about that sort of thing, but it's a real thing. And I think Hermione would have a great time going out with you. Simple reason is that you're almost always fun to be around." said Harry.

Ron raised his eyebrow.

"Don't expect me to say that again." Harry added - despite not being able to see Ron, he knew exactly how he was reacting. Male best friends didn't normally complement each other like that. Or at all for that matter.

"You were worrying me there for a minute there." said Ron, the humor evident in his voice.

"Yeah, for a minute, I was worrying myself! But back to the points, you should just go for it. You only live once, and the longer you're friends with me, the shorter your life expectancy gets." Harry joked.

"I'd rather focus on getting you through whatever You-Know-Who throws at you first before focusing on my shitty love life." said Ron.

"You'd be surprised about how many girls want you actually. Ginny and Hermione both told me that when girls aren't talking about me being the chosen one or not, they're gawking at you. Probably something to do with the whole ministry incident or maybe you winning Gryffindor the Quidditch cup. Then again, I'm no girl, and I'm shite around them so who am I to know what they want?" Harry asked.

"Really? The sidekick?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, I'm serious. Did you see the way Lavender was looking at you at the feast tonight? She couldn't take her eyes off you, and believe me, when you're eating, it's not the greatest thing to watch. Says a lot doesn't it?" Harry asked.

"Wow. Never really noticed that stuff. I guess I was always trying to focus on making sure you don't get into any serious trouble. I'm not doing a great job though, given the whole trap at the Ministry." said Ron.

_Ok... is this modesty or does he genuinely think that little of himself? Or is it both?_

"Harry... I heard you thinking again." Ron said before Harry could answer.

"What? Ok... were you doing anything that could have triggered it? Was I doing something that I don't normally do?" Harry whispered frantically, trying not to raise his voice and wake their dorm mates.

"Harry it's the same as ever. Nothing sticks out, and I have no idea what is causing it." Ron replied, lazily.

"Damn... I hope Dumbledore has a better way of thinking about this stuff than I do." Harry mused.

"Don't worry, he will. He's the one who found out about this mind reading order in the first place, so I don't see why he wouldn't figure it out quicker than we can." Ron said.

Ron didn't need Harry to answer to know that he agreed with him.

* * *

The first few lessons went by with Snape being as infuriating as ever, albeit in a new position and Slughorn awarding Harry a vial of felix felicis for his draught of living death. However, what stuck out was the ridiculous amount of attention from girls that Harry and Ron were receiving, particularly from Lavender Brown on Ron.

This certainly made a fair few boys jealous - Ron and Harry seemed to have captured the attention of most of the girls in the school, and Lavender was one of the best looking ones too.

Ron himself certainly didn't mind the attention, while Harry tried his best to ignore it. However, both of them agreed that the giggling was one of the most infuriating sounds known to man.

However, girls were far from the forefront of their minds when the time came for their first session with Professor Dumbledore.

Dumbledore explained all he could about Voldemort and showed them a memory. Dumbledore's first memory involving a young Tom Riddle.

Even back then, despite being a young boy with handsome features, something about him was particularly chilling. Was it the expression? Was it the lifeless eyes? Whatever it was, neither Harry nor Ron could put their finger on it, but there was definitely something off about him, even back then.

Then came the topic of discussion Ron was most anxious about. And Dumbledore didn't disappoint.

"Mr. Weasley, I have consulted some unspeakables about the brains, and as it turns out that my earlier hunch about the now extinct order was correct. Those powers have been transferred to you, and it is entirely possible to control them." said Dumbledore.

Before Ron could answer, Harry interjected.

"Sir, how did you get to consult an unspeakable? Aren't they sworn to secrecy?" Harry asked.

"They are, that is until an innocent person, be it through accident or curiosity is affected by their work." said Dumbledore.

"So how can I control this?" Ron asked.

"Our knowledge is very rudimentary, however, what we do know is that your ability to read minds is linked to your conscious thoughts. The more strongly you think about a person, the more likely it is that their thoughts will be made clear to you. However, we don't know how it will affect you. It is fortunate that nothing has happened yet, but it is worth practicing this ability by thinking hard about a person and trying to read their thoughts. If anything does happen however, I have informed Professors Snape and McGonagall about this situation, and they, are well equipped to deal with any accidents of the sort, given that they are skilled in both leginimency and occlumency." said Dumbledore.

Ron felt himself tense up slightly at the mention of Snape with the mind-reading concept, given Harry's disastrous occlumency lessons the previous year.

"Do we know how his ability affects people who are good at occlumency?" Harry asked, mirroring Ron's own query earlier.

"As a matter of fact, we do. Mr. Weasley, we know that if you learn how to control this ability, you will be capable of ignoring the mind defences of even the most skilled occlumens." Dumbledore explained, causing Harry and Ron's eyes to widen.

"So if I learn how to control this, I could literally read the mind of anyone, even You-Know-Who?" Ron asked.

"Correct. I know it would be futile to tell you that you don't have to follow Mr. Potter in all of these pursuits, so it is in everyone's best interests that you learn how to control this ability. I cannot say how difficult it will be though, and unfortunately, learning how to control it is entirely up to you, given that you are the only living person with this ability. One last thing, the extinct order knew this ability as hyperleginimency. Now you know how best to refer to it." said Dumbledore, smiling.

"Wow. This is a lot to take in." said Ron.

"Indeed. I think it best that the pair of you sleep with this information fresh in your minds. Although if you like, I could offer you some hot chocolate?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes please professor!" Harry and Ron replied in unison.

* * *

Hermione's reaction was very much the same as Ron's, and her own academic curiosity got the better of her as she bombarded Ron with seemingly endless questions about what they had learned.

Ron answered as best he could, but unfortunately the remaining knowledge about hyperleginimency was thoroughly lacking. Ron would have to learn and document everything as he went along.

But now that he knew what was happening, it felt like a weight was pushed off his chest. It allowed him to finally focus on the female attention he had gained this year, and like any red blooded teenage boy would, he reveled in it.

The fact that he was again Gryffindor's keeper only enhanced his reputation, and it seemed as though he was talking to a new girl every day.

Hermione was less than pleased, but noted that he wasn't really doing anything with them apart from humouring them and so left it alone. She herself was being hounded by Ron's stand-in on the Quidditch team, Cormac McLaggen, whom she despised. He was like a Gryffindor version of Draco Malfoy.

Arrogant, rich and spoiled. Three words that summed him up rather well.

Hermione did well enough to ignore him, and helped Ron practice his hyperleginimency along with Harry whenever the three of them could spare a moment.

However, they weren't having much luck. It seemed as if Ron did a better job when doing it by accident. It didn't stop them giving up though, and it made Hermione forget about her birthday. Ron and Harry did remember though.

The pair of them took her out to Hogsmeade and gave her what would generally be considered the ideal day out with friends, with a few cameo appearances from Ginny, Neville, Seamus, Dean and Luna, all of whom found her and gave her their presents.

That evening, when Harry, Ron and Hermione got back to the common room, Hermione was almost overcome with adoration for Harry and Ron. She gave them a hug which rivaled what was experienced by them when hugging Mrs. Weasley.

"I forgot all about my birthday, but thank you so much!" she said, hugging them both.

"Wow Hermione, was it really that great?" Ron asked as she let go.

"Well in first year at this point no one could really stand me could they? Then in all of the other years we were a bit preoccupied, apart from third year." said Hermione.

Harry and Ron looked at each other uncomfortably.

Hermione sensed their guilt and decided to put them out of their misery.

"It's alright you two! It's not your fault, and you made this birthday perfect didn't you? I'm not one for massive blowouts, I just prefer being with people who matter to me." she said, smiling broadly at them.

"Maybe, but I reckon we still owe you. If not for the birthdays, then at least for basically getting us through school so far." said Ron.

"Besides, what sort of friends would we be if we didn't do anything for your birthday?" Harry asked.

"Especially when you're now of age and you can use magic to tidy up my room!" Ron added, smirking at her.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I'm afraid you'll have to contend with your own tidying skills for a few more months Ron." said Hermione.

Ron looked at Harry.

"Worth a shot, right?" he asked.

"Yeah especially with your disaster area you call a room." said Harry.

"Touché." said Ron.

"Anyway Ron, do you want to work on your hyperleginimency?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah sure. Just start thinking of stuff that isn't embarrassing." said Ron to Harry and Hemrione.

The three of them headed to the room of requirement and took seats on some sofas and Ron's brow furrowed as he concentrated as hard as he could, trying to think about Harry and Hermione, leaving them in the forefront of his mind.

Unfortunately, being a human mind, Ron's couldn't focus on one thing for long - his thoughts always drifted to other things. He brought it back to Harry and Hermione, but his thoughts would always drift, regardless of how hard he tried.

"Ugh this is hopeless!" Ron fumed.

"Ron, don't worry, I don't know anyone who can successfully think of only one thing when consciously trying. It will take a lot of... well for lack of a better phrase, mind training for you to get there. No one else I know would be any different." said Hermione.

"But I'm always doing better by accident. Not that that's saying much, I can only read one random thought every now and again." said Ron.

"Yeah, but you've got to remember that this is a completely new skill which you've got to really work at. You know how hard it is for babies to start walking? Well this is pretty much the same. Only difference is that you're used to learning things that you learn quickly like school work, not innate abilities you can activate at will like walking and talking." Hermione explained.

"Besides, impatience is never going to get you anywhere. It's probably really frustrating, it must be way harder than learning the patronus was for me, because... well Hermione said it best. The patronus may be a difficult spell, but it's just a spell in the end - there are teachable mechanics. This is something different - you have the ability, but no one can really teach you. We can only be there as a support, like parents with their babies when they learn how to walk." said Harry.

Ron pondered what Harry and Hermione said for a moment.

"OK I get what you're saying. But it makes me wonder - is this the best way to practice hyperleginimency? I'm wondering if there are things I can look at that remind me of you, like maybe a picture or something. Anything that gets my emotions going. When I look at the two of you right in front of me, it doesn't get me thinking that strongly about you because I'm so used to you two being around. I don't know how dumb this sounds though." said Ron.

"Well it's the only idea any of us have actually had, so it's automatically better than what either Harry or I have thought of." said Hermione.

Ron smiled when he realised Hermione was right. Perhaps he _was_ a useful friend.


	4. The Quidditch placebo

**A/N - I know it looks as if Ron's gift with leginimency is not different to a leginimens who has trained the normal way and become adept at it like Voldemort or Dumbledore, but believe me, the extent of his powers haven't been seen yet - His ability to randomly read minds is only the most basic thing he can do.**

Unfortunately, the term was not going well for Ron, and it was having all sorts of knock-on effects. He and Harry caught Ginny and Dean snogging in a corridor, leading to a fierce shouting match in which Ginny revealed that Hermione had snogged Viktor Krum. This put Ron in a foul mood, and his performances in Quidditch matches suffered for it.

He also started ignoring Hermione and losing his temper at her enough for her to be bewildered, furious in return, and sad.

During the morning of the first Quidditch match, his confidence was seemingly at an all-time low, and no attempts to cheer him up, until Harry pretended to spike his pumpkin juice with liquid luck.

The first Quidditch match of the season was an unprecedented success for Gryffindor - Slytherin were systematically dismantled by a ruthless and spectacular Gyrffindor team. Harper, Malfoy's stand-in was an idiot, as Ginny had said, and Harry outclassed him in every way. Once they saw the skill of the small, nimble Gryffindor chasers, Slytherin's hulking chasers tried to play dirty, costing them too many penalties.

However, most impressive was Ron. He literally saved every single shot. This was despite his lack of confidence before the game, although Harry's faked spiking of Felix felicis helped. Not that Ron knew that yet.

After the game, Hermione immediately went to confront Harry and Ron regarding the "spiked" pumpkin juice.

"Harry, you could be expelled for doing that! The only reason Ron was so good was because of that liquid luck in his juice!" Hermione seethed on their way to the Gryffindor common room. Ron's good mood was immediately dashed by Hermione's outburst. Was he wrong to think he was actually good at anything?

Harry grinned and stuck his hand in his pocket, pulling out a completely full bottle of liquid luck.

"Oh." Hermione said simply upon seeing the bottle. Nervously, she turned to Ron, who looked back at Hermione with a completely blank expression on his face.

Despite the blank expression, both Harry and Hermione could tell that he was furious.

Harry gulped, realising that his plan had backfired.

Without another word, Ron stomped up the stairs, into the Gryffindor common room, where there was no doubt a celebration going on in light of the thumping victory, leaving a very nervous Harry and Hermione back on the staircase.

"I err... I wanted to try and make him feel better about himself." said Harry.

"It's not your fault Harry. I definitely could have handled it all better." Hermione replied.

Sighing, Harry led the way up the stairs towards the Gryffindor common room, Hermione in tow. To neither or their surprise, there was a very loud party going on in the common room. Chants of _"Weasley! Weasley! Weasley!" _and _"Weasley is our King! He didn't let the quaffle in!"_ filled the common room. Harry and Hermione both hoped this would raise Ron's spirits, but in the commotion, they couldn't spot him. They did, however spot Ginny.

"Hey Ginny, where's Ron?" Harry asked.

"Over there. I think he's finally noticed that girls like him. Although _why_ I don't know." she said, smirking at the two of them, whilst pointing at a crowd, with an unmistakable mop of red hair towering above most of them.

Harry and Hermione pushed their way towards the front of the crowd, seeing a particularly large group of girls flirting shamelessly with Ron, predominantly Lavender Brown. Some of them, however noticed Harry, who was in turn subjected to the mobbing.

Hermione, still nervous about talking to Ron, tapped him on the shoulder. Ron turned to face her, gave her a dirty look and then proceeded to ignore her.

She persisted and pulled Ron towards her.

"Please let me talk to you!" She said directly into his ear, above the deafening crowd.

Ron sighed.

"Come on, we'll talk in my dorm." he said.

The crowd looked visibly disappointed at his leaving.

"I'll be back! Besides, Harry's here!" He yelled to them, to their satisfaction. For the first time, he was the 'main attraction' and he was fully enjoying it.

"Ron, before you say anything, I'm so sorry! I know what I said was tactless and I promised you earlier-" Hermione began.

"It's not just that." Ron interrupted. grumpily.

"What else is it?" Hermione asked.

Ron then realised that he would either have to make up something plausible or admit that he didn't like the fact that Hermione had snogged Viktor Krum.

He opted for the first option.

"It's not just that you were tactless, but it's that you're always so careful with Harry, as if when you're talking to him you're walking in a room with broken glass all over the floor, just carefully tip-toeing around all the things that might set him off. But with me you just didn't seem to care." said Ron, who realised that he didn't really just make it up - it was all true.

Hermione bit her lip for a moment, trying to formulate a proper response.

"Last year Harry was just so much more... volatile, because of everything that's been happening. I don't know what changed this year, especially what happened... what happened to Sirius, but I don't want to take a chance and set him off. You're never so volatile, and it seems that no matter what happens, these events aren't really changing your demeanor." Hermione explained.

"Well I guess that's true, but does that mean you can just blurt stuff out like that? It still hurts when you say that sort of stuff Hermione." Ron explained, looking down at his feet.

"Oh, I know and I'm so sorry! I'm beginning to wonder why you bother with me at all!" Hermione wailed, tears welling up in her eyes.

Ron realised that she was now seriously upset and before he panicked and made her fee worse, he intervened.

"Shit Hermione, don't cry! I didn't mean to make you feel like crap! You're still the reason I passed most of my OWLS, remember?" He tried hopefully.

There were still tears in Hermione's eyes, but she at least smiled.

Not having any idea what else to do, Ron grabbed Hermione and hugged her tightly.

"I'm sorry too, there's no excuse to make you feel like that." he said.

Hermione's parents, both being dentists and dental consultants earned a great deal of money and her family was very well off in the muggle world, but in that moment, Hermione felt like she'd won the lottery, even though it was only a hug.

"You didn't make me feel like that Ron, it was my fault." she said, hugging him back.

"Shall we rejoin the party?" Ron asked, grinning down at her. By this point, he had also realised that even if Hermione had snogged Krum, it didn't mean anything, as they'd never got together and Hermione didn't even want to know him as anything more than a friend (as she'd repeatedly and loudly pointed out).

"Of course, but can I ask you something?" said Hermione.

"Yeah, sure." said Ron.

"For the past few weeks... you've been avoiding me, giving me the cold shoulder. I don't know what it is I did, but I want to know just so I don't do it again." said Hermione.

Ron felt both guilty and panicked. He did, however know one thing that could keep Hermione from knowing the real reason for his treatment of her. Quidditch saved the day again. Although what he was about to say was partly true.

"Hermione, there's no real excuse for it, but my Quidditch practices were going shit, and I was just feeling worse and worse about myself coming into the game. My confidence was shot and I just started lashing out and taking out my anger on everyone else, even you. I shouldn't have been like that to you, you hadn't really done anything, had you? Sorry Hermione." said Ron.

Hermione shook her head and smiled at him, letting him know that he was forgiven. Ron smiled in return and the two of them went back to rejoin the party.

Ron's return was met with a very loud and enthusiastic reception, and as Ron waved to the Gryffindors (and the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs invited), Hermione smiled, noting that Ron, all his life, wanted to be recognised as something aside from Harry Potter's best friend or 'just another' Weasley.

She let Ron flirt with the group of fifth, sixth and seventh year girls who had been hounding him throughout the party, knowing full well that Ron wasn't really going to go anywhere with them, due to the fact that he had said himself:

_"Girls are a bit barmy in relationships. No offence Hermione, in fact I reckon you'd actually be pretty normal and a good girlfriend but most girls just act weird and I wouldn't really want to be stuck with one. At least not now."_

She went to find Harry, who was animatedly chatting away to Neville and Seamus, going through the game, almost play by play.

"Hey Hermione, are things OK between you and Ron?" Harry asked upon noticing her.

"Yes, nothing to worry about." she replied, before joining the three boys in their Quidditch talk, despite having far less expertise than them.

Ron, meanwhile was again being led upstairs, this time by Lavender, who was under the impression that she was about to spend the night with one of Hogwarts' most wanted young men.

She had no idea that Ron simply thought she wanted to talk to him, possibly ask him out.

"So what's up Lavender?" he asked.

Lavender didn't say a word, she didn't even think. She practically jumped on Ron and kissed him full on the mouth, hard. Ron, although taken aback, didn't exactly mind - Lavender was among the best looking girls around.

She wasn't wasting any time though, before Ron had properly realised what was going on, her shirt was off and his hands were on the bare skin on her back. When he noticed, he didn't really stop it either. He was certainly enjoying the view of Lavender's ample chest, that was for sure.

But with a start, he suddenly realised that this wouldn't really go down well with Hermione, a random night of sex with someone he didn't really want to properly go out with. She'd probably go ballistic.

"Lavender, wait." he said, stopping her as she unbuttoned his shirt.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"I-I can't do this." he said.

"Do you... do you not find me attractive?" She asked, feeling slightly hurt.

"Bloody hell of course I do! Look at you!" He replied, making her smile mischievously.

"It's just... I don't know- I don't know how Hermione..." He started before trailing off.

Lavender's face was filled with understanding.

"Oh, I get it. You err... You don't just want to be friends with her." she said.

Ron nodded, feeling slightly mortified.

"Well I'm not going to pretend this isn't embarrassing." Lavender replied, getting off him.

"Fuck, I'm sorry, I didn't set out to hurt you or anything..." Ron started.

"Don't worry Ron, it's not your fault or anything." she said, putting on her shirt.

Ron was secretly annoyed that Lavender was now covering up what could only be described as a magnificent chest, but he didn't show his disappointment. Besides, he was willing to bet that Hermione's would be even better. Although getting to see it was a different question entirely...

"No hard feelings I hope?" Ron asked.

"Of course not, this isn't anyone's fault. I guess it got so far because we're a couple of horny teenagers. To tell you the truth I'm still fully ready to go straight at it. By the looks of things so are you." She said, smirking at him while looking at his trousers.

Ron looked down and his ears immediately went completely red.

"Shit!" he exclaimed.

"Don't worry, I'm actually glad I can get such a reaction out of Gryffindor's _king._" Lavender teased.

"_ha ha ha._" Ron replied sarcastically.

Once the laughter had vanished from Lavender's face, and her serious look had returned, she did have one last thing to say to Ron before heading back down to the party.

"I hope that one day she realises how lucky she is." she said, before rejoining the party.

Ron was impressed. All these years, he had thought Lavender to be a very girly girl, and somewhat shallow, but he didn't realise that she had this different side to her. He felt guilty about his initial impression of her, but then remembered the girl who he turned Lavender down for. He doubted Hermione would ever see him as boyfriend material, but he knew that she was worth a try.

Building up the courage to ask out a girl like Hermione, however, was another question and it was something he would attempt later. Another day.

_Wow, Quidditch is so much more technical than I thought! Watching Harry and Ron just makes me think of it as an instinctive kind of game, but I never realised there was so much thought going into it! It must mean a lot to Harry and Ron too... maybe I should make more of an attempt to take it seriously, it obviously means as much to them as my studies do to me. I wonder where Ron is? Oh, probably in the middle of that crowd of girls. I knew it was only a matter of time before girls realised that he's not some 'sidekick'. Not exactly bad looking either..._

Hermione's voice filled Ron's head as he buttoned up his shirt. Ron knew that this time, it was only a pure accident, but it was still the longest stream of thoughts he had ever heard. He didn't know why he stopped hearing them this time and he wasn't happy - Hermione had just admitted that she found him attractive!

Ron then remembered that in order to read minds, he had to concentrate very hard on the person whose mind he wanted to read. And so he did. He thought as hard as he could about Hermione and the way she thinks. And for the first time, he succeeded.

_Wow, Seamus really does know how to get his hands on alcohol... Should I report him? I think I'll have to let it slide this time, we're all trying to have fun after all. God if Ron could hear me now... he'd never let me forget it! _

**_I wouldn't._**

_What? Ron? Wait... can you... can you talk to me from inside your head? Are we speaking to each other through our thoughts?_

**_Hang on, you heard me say that? Oh shit, I'm talking to you inside your head! This is too weird..._**

_Ron, I don't know what you're doing to make this happen, but don't stop it! Where are you? I'll get Harry!_

**_I'm in the boy's dorm! Hurry, I have no idea how long I can keep this up! Bring a quill and_ parchment!**

As if Ron had jinxed it by thinking those very things, Ron could almost feel the telepathic connection with Hermione break.

However, it didn't stop Harry and Hermione from bursting into the room with some parchment, ink and quills.

"Ron, I want you to go through the exact thought process you just went through." Hermione said, looking at him intently, with a quill in her hand.

"Hermione what the hell is going on?" Harry asked. Clearly Hermione had been in too much of a rush to explain it.

"Harry, Ron not only read my thoughts, but he just telepathically communicated with me!" Hermione replied frantically.

"What, you mean like in those muggle superhero cartoons?" Harry asked.

"Exactly like that! Maybe this is one of the things that sets Ron's hyperleginimency apart from normal leginimency! Dumbledore wanted to know what separates this from normal leginimency because we haven't seen Ron do anything that a normal leginimens can't do apart from not needing to use his wand!" Hermione explained.

"But Dumbledore doesn't need to use his wand for leginimency, and neither does Voldemort." Harry replied.

"Yes, but both of them are extremely powerful and talented wizards, and they're also very accomplished leginimenses, aren't they? This is the first thing we've seen that hasn't got a normal explanation yet!" Hermione replied.

This was all extremely startling to Ron. He was doing something that even Dumbledore couldn't. Ron then proceeded to tell Hermione exactly what she was asking about.

"Ok, well I accidentally heard you thinking about Quidditch when you were talking to Harry, Seamus and Neville, and it was the longest stream of thoughts I'd ever heard from anyone. It stopped for some reason, and I decided I might as well try again to read your mind. Sorry about that." Ron said, warily.

"Don't worry Ron, keep going." Hermione said, waving it off, still writing down what she had heard.

"Ok, well I focused really hard on you and the way you think, and I think that's what got me into your head. Maybe that's what got my mind connected with yours and had us speaking telepathically, but I'm not sure yet. I don't think I can be sure until it happens a few more times." said Ron.

"We need to try and find a way to test this on a decent occlumens... without them realising. Hopefully you can try and not think any distinguishable thoughts if you get into their heads." said Harry.

"Snape." Hermione thought immediately.

"Oh no, not him!" Ron moaned.

"You know how shit my occlumency lessons were with him Hermione, can't someone else-" Harry began.

"Why not him? The both of you have too much respect to try it on the only other powerful occlumency users in the school, McGonagall and Dumbledore. Snape is a strong occlumens and if you mess up, you can draw the 'Dumbledore told you to' card!" Hermione explained.

Hermione's sting of strong logic effectively shut Harry and Ron up. She was right - Ron respected McGonagall and Dumbledore too much to try and read their private thoughts, the only reason he tried it on Harry or Hermione was because they let him, and they themselves weren't accomplished in occlumency. Snape was someone who Ron couldn't really care less about, a powerful occlumens, and if Ron explained that Dumbledore told him to practice using these powers, he wouldn't get into trouble.

"You're right. Nothing new there though." Ron said, grinning at Hermione.

A faint blush could be seen on Hermione's face. She was modest about her intelligence, but loved it when she was praised for it. Especially if Ron was doing the praising.

The three of them sat up for a while longer, discussing Ron's hyperleginimency, before people from the party started to head up and go to bed. Harry did the same, and Hermione asked to talk to Ron in the now deserted common room.

"So Hermione, what's got you wanting to talk to me this late at night?" Ron asked.

"Well I- I heard Dean talking about Lavender leading you up here when he, Seamus and Neville arrived at your dorm. I was just wondering what you were doing." Hermione said.

Ron raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, this isn't any of my business - I got angry with you at the Yule ball for basically the same thing, I'm just being a hypocrite-" Hermione began.

"Hermione, relax. It doesn't really bother me. Probably because privacy means a lot more to girls in general I guess." said Ron.

Hermione was once again, impressed with Ron's new-found maturity. He had actually noticed that privacy was very important to girls, more so than boys anyway, and he certainly wasn't blowing up at her about what she was asking about. More than she could say about her own reaction to whenever Ron asked her about Viktor.

"So you're totally fine about me asking these things?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah of course. So if you really want to know, Lavender... wanted to well... to put it bluntly, she wanted to shag me." said Ron.

"What? Did you?" Hermione replied, shocked.

"No, but by the time I'd realised that I didn't want to do that with her, a few clothes had come off. At first I thought she wanted to ask me out, then I thought she just wanted a bit of a snog, but then she'd thrown off her shirt so..." Ron let his statement hang.

"What stopped you? I mean Lavender isn't exactly ugly." said Hermione.

"Yeah, she's pretty damn good looking, with a nice body to boot, but something just felt, I don't know... something felt off about it." said Ron.

"How so?" Hermione knew she was being extremely nosy, poking into Ron's private actions, but she couldn't help herself. Besides, Ron was being open, so it was OK... right?

"I guess I couldn't stop thinking about-"Ron began, but he trailed off.

"Yes?" Hermione asked.

"I'm sorry, I don't really want to say." said Ron.

"Why not?" Hermione asked.

"It's just something that's really private. I mean, Harry is the only other person who knows about it, and Ginny has suspicions, but I've never told her about it." said Ron.

Hermione was slightly offended.

"Why can you tell Harry but not me?" She asked, not hiding that she was hurt.

"Look Hermione, can you please just drop it? I've stopped asking about Krum, and I've told you a lot more than I thought I would already." said Ron, in a stern tone.

Hermione realised that she had definitely crossed the line.

"I-I'm sorry Ron. I guess I was just caught up with you being so open. Can you at least tell me why Harry can know about it and not me?" Hermione asked.

Ron started to panic. He couldn't very well tell her the truth... at least not yet. He had to stall her. So he said the first thing that came into his mind.

"Guy thing. You've got your own girl stuff going with Ginny, so you know what I mean, right?" said Ron.

"I haven't told Ginny anything which I haven't told you Ron." said Hermione, flatly.

Ron felt a sudden burst of anger. Either Ginny was lying or Hermione was lying.

"Really? Because a couple of weeks back, Ginny let something skip that I'd definitely consider a 'girl' thing which I know you haven't told me or Harry." said Ron, his teeth clenched.

"And what would that be?" Hermione asked, getting annoyed.

"You snogged Krum." said Ron, trying to hold his anger back.

Hermione's eyes widened. She didn't think Ginny would ever have let that secret spill. Ron noticed her facial expression change.

"So she _was_ telling the truth. Here you are asking why Harry can know and you can't, but why couldn't you have told Harry or me about that then?" asked Ron, who was visibly shaking. All mature thoughts about it happening a long time ago were gone and his jealous anger had returned.

Hermione was trying not to look Ron in the eye when she replied.

"You were just really angry at me that night. I didn't want to make it worse." She mumbled, barely loud enough for Ron to hear.

"It's been almost two years. Enough bloody time for you to tell me I reckon." Ron replied sarcastically.

"You always get upset when Viktor comes up so I just didn't want to say anything." said Hermione.

Ron pondered what Hermione had just said for a moment. In retrospect, telling him that would have definitely made him angry, and Ron could understand her position. He then realised that there wasn't even any real reason to be angry, remembering what he thought earlier - it was just a one time thing which Hermione didn't even want to continue."

"Fucking hell Hermione, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have got so pissed off at you. It's up to you what you tell people, not me." said Ron.

"And it's up to you what you tell people. I won't press the matter of what you told Harry. I'm sorry too." said Hermione.

"Why can't we always sort out our arguments like this?" Ron asked.

"Because we've both grown up enough I think." Hermione replied, simply.

The two of them sat in a slightly uncomfortable silence for a moment before Hermione broke it.

"Ron, are you sure you can't tell me why you stopped Lavender from... from having... sex with you?" Hermione asked.

Ron thought for a moment. He knew he couldn't tell Hermione the whole thing, but what if he gave a watered down version? Surely that would work?

"Well it's because I was worried about what you'd think. I mean I don't think you'd be impressed if I just shagged a girl for one night without really following through or something." Ron explained.

Hermione was touched. Ron stopped himself from having what Hermione knew would be a very enjoyable night just to spare Hermione's feelings. Even though he didn't even know the real extent of them. Hermione knew that if Ron _did_ do anything with Lavender, she would be hurt, in fact she would be quite badly hurt. But if the situation with Viktor wasn't any of Ron's business, why should the things Ron did with other girls like Lavender be any of _her_ business? She knew it would be hypocritical and disrespectful of Ron's free will if she stopped him from doing what he wanted.

Hermione may have been completely crazy about Ron, but she remembered that he was a teenage boy. He should have the right to do whatever he wanted without being judged by her, a person who most of the year considered to be both a buzzkill and a know-it-all.

"Ron, it may not be something I'd do myself, but you have every right to do whatever you want. It's incredibly sweet of you to think of what I'd think, but you can't let what I think get in the way of what you want to do. I don't control you Ron." said Hermione.

"You sure? I mean there are a fair few girls who I now realise were definitely trying to get me in bed with them, and I reckon the idea of a one night stand sickens you or something." said Ron.

"It doesn't _sicken_ me per se, it's just something I couldn't bring myself to do. It doesn't mean you shouldn't. For example, My mum is a vegetarian, but she doesn't force me or dad to stop eating meat, does she?" Hermione explained.

"Well I guess you're right. But if you feel uncomfortable with stuff I do, just tell me, because... well I hate to be so crude but some of those girls were really fit." said Ron. He didn't expect Hermione to want to go out with him any time soon, so why not play the field instead?

Hermione ignored the painful feeling of Ron not seeing her as 'fit', and decided to let him do as he pleased.

"Ron, just go ahead and do what you want to do, it's not my place to stop you." she said, smiling, hiding her inner discomfort.

Ron's mind filled itself with scenarios of him with countless different girls, but still none of it seemed right to him. He knew that the only person he wanted to do any of those things was right in front of him.

Suddenly, he didn't care any more that Hermione would most likely never go out with him. Any feelings of not being good enough for her were temporarily put aside. He had no idea where this courage came from but he wasn't going to complain.

"So you're saying that I can do whatever I want, with any girl I want?" he asked.

"Yes." said Hermione, realising that her eyes started to fill with tears. As far as she could tell, she was letting go of her dreams of being with Ron. In her opinion, she was too boring, too naggy and strict, and not good looking enough for someone like Ron. She thought she would never be the kind of girl Ron would really notice, but that was no reason to hold him back from others.

Ron swallowed, and gave up his secret.

"And what if that girl was you?"


	5. Overdue

**Hermione POV**

I stood still for a moment, completely shocked.

Did he just ask what I think he did? Was this just a joke? I half expected Harry to just pop out from behind a sofa, laughing his head off. But there was no sign of anyone else there. Was he actually being serious?

"W-what do you mean what if that girl was me?" I asked, still dreading what was to come.

Ron cleared his throat.

"I mean, what if the girl I wanted was you? And what if I didn't just want to have sex with you? Well... I do, but that's not really the priority. What if it was just because I can't stop thinking about you and... oh fuck it! Hermione, you make me completely mental! Sometimes when you're around, I can't really think straight, you know what I mean? Oh of course you don't know what I mean, you're always thinking straight! Bloody hell how did I fuck this up?" he asked, losing his cool.

I still stood there, not knowing what to do. Ron may have lost his cool, but he was handling it a lot better than me - I was just standing there like an idiot!

"Ron, what are you trying to say? Whatever it is, just say it." I asked, not sure what he was going to come out with next.

"You'll laugh." he mumbled.

I was shocked as soon as the words left his mouth. What could possibly make him think that?

"Ron! I'd never laugh at you! I don't know exactly what you're trying to say, but it's clearly bothering you! I'd never laugh at you when you're like this!" I assured him.

Ron gathered his breath for a moment. Clearly this was taking a lot out of him.

"Hermione, I'm in love with you. It took me ages to admit it to myself, but I can't pretend I'm not! There I said it! Oh shit... I said it... Hermione, please just forget I said that!" said Ron, panicking.

"Ron... how could I ever forget something like this?" I asked back, my voice barely more than a whisper.

"Yeah, I know, I know, I shouldn't have said anything in the first place. I'm so sorry, I can't believe I'm fucking things up with you again!" said Ron.

In that moment, I seemed to regain my ability to think. Ron had just said he was in love with me, and I hadn't said it back. As a result, he was feeling miserable, and I wasn't doing anything about it.

"Ron, look at me." I said firmly.

Ron slowly raised his head and looked me directly in the eye.

"Ron, I love you too." I said quietly.

"You love... wait... what?" Ron asked.

"I love you too." I repeated, with more confidence.

Ron seemed dazed and shocked for a moment, before finally regaining full control over his speech and thought processes, and he grinned broadly at me.

"So Hermione, do you want to be my girlfriend?" he asked.

"I'd be insane to say no." I replied, smiling back at him.

"Blimey." said Ron.

"My sentiments exactly." I said.

An awkward silence followed, before I suddenly remembered Ron mentioning that I'd laugh at him

"Ron, what made you think I'd laugh at you?" I asked softly, feeling like asking in my normal voice might upset him more.

"I just thought I wouldn't be good enough for you." said Ron, looking down all of a sudden.

I felt a surge of both affection and pity for Ron as soon as he said those words, and, hoping to make him feel at least a bit better, I hugged him.

"Ron, I don't know what I've been doing to make you feel that way, but please tell me. I don't want you to ever think you're not good enough, because you are more than good enough, do you hear me?" I said firmly, after releasing him.

Ron smiled weakly.

"Well you remember when I got my prefect badge? It was basically the first big thing I'd done that Harry hadn't already done, but when you came in, you were screaming about how excited you were that Harry had the badge. Which is fair enough, because Harry was the one holding the badge, but when Harry gave it to me, you were totally shocked, and you made me feel like I'd stolen the badge from under Harry's nose or something. And you weren't excited about the idea of us being prefects together, you were definitely pretending to be happy about it." said Ron, who looked like a pair of hippogriffs had been lifted off his chest.

I thought back to that day and I remembered that I _was_ happy about Ron being made prefect, but at the time, Harry wasn't in a great mood, so I was hoping to get his mind off everything bothering him. But I realised that my reaction was inexcusable - Ron had done something worth being proud of, yet I had treated it as if it was a shock. For him to hear me say that must have been unbearable, especially if he was in love with me back then. How many times was I going to have to apologise to him for being tactless for so long? People (namely Ginny and the twins) tend to fixate on how he's caused me grief over the years, but I didn't realise how much I've caused him in return!_  
_

"Ron, I had no idea it bothered you so much! At this rate I'll be apologising to you for the rest of my life! I'm so sorry, I don't know why I acted that way, I don't know what came over me! Oh Ron, how could you be in love with me after that? I'm naggy, boring, I'm not even good looking, I- mmph!" I said all of this very quickly, barely pausing for a breath, but something incredible happened.

Ron kissed me.

I felt like I was about to melt right then and there, but I tried to regain my composure and wrapped my arms around his neck, as he lifted me off the floor. Not only did I feel like I was in heaven, but I felt weightless and carefree too. Although the weightlessness could be explained by the fact that he's lifting me off the floor.

I wrapped my legs around his waist, and I felt his hands under my thighs, holding me up. I had just realised that we still hadn't stopped kissing. Well actually we were snogging by now, and thoroughly enjoying it too. But eventually, we had to stop, and I pulled away from him, staring into his eyes.

"Care to explain why I did _that _to someone who's 'naggy, boring and not good looking'?" Ron asked, smirking at me.

"Well... err- I-you-maybe-" I tried, realising that I had no explanations. Why on earth was he so... captivated by me?

"The reason's pretty simple. You're not boring and you're bloody beautiful. I don't want you thinking otherwise, because it's a load of bollocks." said Ron, after putting me back down on the floor.

How on earth did he manage to be so blunt and romantic at the same time?

"Well I might need... a little bit more convincing." I replied, shaking nervously. It was my first attempt at being seductive and if I'm honest, it wasn't too convincing, what with the fact that I was looking at the floor, speaking extremely softly and very, very nervous.

Somehow it seemed to work, because Ron grabbed me by the waist, picked me up again, but this time, took me upstairs. He was clearly heading towards his dorm room. I don't know if he was expecting us to have sex, even if I wanted some 'alone time', but if I told him that I didn't want to, he'd understand. But... would he be disappointed? Would he get disillusioned and start getting bored of me as soon as we got together? These thoughts, among a million other scenarios ran through my head before Ron gave the all clear, meaning that his roommates were asleep. Ron pulled the drapes around his bed as we got onto it and cast a silencing charm on it.

**Third person POV**

Hermione decided to take the next step, crawled onto Ron and kissed him hard. Ron, slightly taken aback at Hermione's sudden aggression, fell back onto the bed and let Hermione lie on top of him as she continued to kiss him.

A few blissful moments later, they broke apart.

"This-this is... happening... so fast." Hermione said, panting.

"We've wasted at least two bloody years, so it sort of makes sense." said Ron, who didn't seem remotely out of breath, which Hermione put down to his sportiness and aerobic fitness.

Hermione grinned at him, before kissing him again. This time, however, Ron lightly sucked on Hermione's bottom lip, causing her mouth to open in a light gasp.

Hermione responded by sending her tongue out, which met Ron's, causing Hermione to moan.

Seeing this side of Hermione had all sorts of images going through Ron's mind, but he shook them away - the reality of having Hermione, of all people acting with such lust directed towards him was far more important.

Hermione's hands found their way underneath Ron's button-down shirt, and she lightly stroked his chest and stomach, which both of them greatly enjoyed the feel of.

Ron, meanwhile, slowly slid his hands under Hermione's shirt, gently stroking her back.

"You're so... soft." Ron said, dumbstruck.

"You're _not_." Hermione replied, smiling seductively.

Ron grinned and unbuttoned his shirt, which Hermione proceeded to throw off and leave at the foot of the bed as she sighed, loving the feel of Ron's torso. The scars he had received from the department of mysteries fiasco, as Hermione once noted over the summer, made him even sexier, and she didn't think she would ever get enough of him.

"I can't blame Lavender for trying... wow." she said, marveling at the sight before her.

The two of them kissed back and forth for a while longer, Ron never bothering to even think about his forgotten shirt at the foot of the bed, before Hermione realised what time it is when she looked at Ron's watch.

"Ron! It's three in the morning! We should go to sleep!" She said, breaking off from him.

"Of all the times you had to be right..." Ron grumbled.

Hermione smiled again.

"Don't worry, this isn't over." she said, smirking at him, while her mind did a little jig at the fact that Ron found her _so_ attractive.

"I should bloody well hope not!" Ron replied, laughing.

"Ron... don't get the wrong idea, but can I sleep here? With you?" she asked, a part of her expecting Ron to be a bit afraid of what she just asked.

"What? Seriously? You want to sleep in here? Next to me?" Ron asked, looking as if he'd won a castle to live in.

Ron's reaction gave Hermione the confidence she needed.

"Yes. I... I know it's only been about an hour since we got together, but I just want to be able to wake up and have you be the first thing I see. Is that creepy?" Hermione asked.

"It would have been be if you didn't say you love me back." Ron replied, grinning, patting the part of the bed to his right.

Hermione smiled and climbed into the bed, trying to get as close to Ron as humanly possible.

Ron grinned and wrapped an arm around Hermione, letting her head rest on his chest, and before long, he realised that one of Hermione's legs was on top of his legs, and her chest was pressed up against his side.

_Why the hell didn't I get round to telling her sooner?_ he thought to himself as Hermione drifted off to sleep. After sleepily noting how warm, soft and comfortable Hemrione was, he followed suit.

* * *

Somehow, the next morning, Ron and Hermione both woke up earlier than Ron's roommates, Harry included.

"M-m-Morning Ron." Hermione yawned.

"Morning Hermione, sleep well?" Ron asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Best I've slept in a while actually." She replied, before kissing his cheek and sitting up.

"Really? My chest over a warm, soft bed?" Ron asked, grinning.

"You'd be surprised." Hermione replied, doing the same.

"By the way, I've never seen that side of you, where did that come from? It was bloody fantastic mind you." said Ron, causing Hermione to blush.

"I-I don't know. I guess I was just running on instinct once you started kissing me." she said.

"Well I'm planning on getting that side of you to come out as much as I can. Doubt I've ever had that much fun in just one hour."

Hermione's blush, which Ron didn't think was capable of becoming more intense, somehow did exactly that.

"I did too." she said, quietly, as if admitting so would make her the kind of girl Ron would call a 'scarlet woman', even though she knew it wouldn't.

"Really? Then you wouldn't mind if I saved a few hours tonight just for you?" Ron asked teasingly.

"If you could manage that, then I'd be actively looking forward to it all day." Hermione replied.

Ron smiled, before realising that the fact that they had just got together was big news to most of the school, due to Ron's new status and Harry especially. He wanted to make sure that Harry and his friendship would not suffer for this new development.

"Hermione, how should we go about telling people about us?" he asked.

Hermione thought for a moment.

"Well I think it's best if we told Harry, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Seamus and Dean, and just let everything else happen on its own. We don't need a public announcement or anything, but there's no reason to keep it a secret.

"Sounds good. I guess it's worth mentioning in our letters back home too." said Ron.

"Definitely. Mum's going to love this. Dad... not so much." said Hermione.

"Why's that? Oh wait, he's one of those really protective dads isn't he?" Ron asked.

"He is, but you shouldn't have anything to fear, even without magic he's nowhere near your size." said Ron.

"I know, but I'd rather have him be happy about you and me." said Ron.

"He will be, as long as he knows... what you said last night." said Hermione.

"I said a lot of stuff last night Hermione, what exactly d'you mean?" asked Ron.

"The fact that you... _love_ me." said Hermione, turning red again.

"Oh. That. You know it's true right? I really do love you." said Ron, his ears going slightly pink.

"I do now, and I've never been happier. But Ron, I have to ask, why?" asked Hermione.

"Why do I love you you mean?" Ron asked, confused.

"Yes. You may not really realise it, but for quite a while, girls have really started paying attention to you. A lot of them actually. That and most of the school wants to be you, you've become one of the most popular students around, ever since your Quidditch performance during the match Harry and I missed last year, and the one yesterday of course. It makes me wonder, you could have your pick out of most girls in the school, just as much as Harry could, but you want _me._ Why?" Hermione asked, speaking very quickly.

Ron blinked and then stared at Hermione, hardly believing what he was hearing.

"Hermione, didn't I tell you last night why?" Ron asked.

"Well sort of, but I'm still not really sure why you picked me." said Hermione.

"I didn't 'pick' you Hermione, I've been crazy about you for ages, and I couldn't help it. Mind you if I wasn't, I'd still probably pick you. You're way smarter than any of the other girls I know, and you're not into the really..._girly _crap like Madam Puddifoots, which I can't even stand the sight of. You're the reason I've passed most of my OWLs, you're really kind, and if that wasn't enough, you're bloody gorgeous!" said Ron.

Hermione was stunned by Ron's monologue. She had no idea Ron thought so highly of her. She always knew Ron cared about her and she was important to him, but this was something else.

Before Hermione could reply, Ron spoke again.

"Did we take off the silencing charm on my bed? If the guys heard that..." Ron said, letting his statement hang.

"No we didn't, we're safe until someone opens the drapes on the bed. But Ron... I had no idea you think so highly of me!" said Hermione.

"Well now you do, and it's not just that. There's all the little things you do that just make it all even better." said Ron.

Hermione lost all self control and leapt onto Ron again, kissing him with just as much passion as the previous night, and Ron responded in kind.

"Hey Ron, do you wa- woah."

Harry had opened the drapes on Ron's bed, to see Hermione on top of Ron. The two of them looked at him, completely shocked.

"So... what did I miss?" he asked, smirking at the two of them.

"Well we... sorted... stuff out last night and..." said Ron, completely mortified. Hermione was even worse - she seemed to have lost the ability to speak.

"Yeah, that I can see. Well then, I'll err... I'll head down to breakfast." said Harry awkwardly.

Hermione, still mortified (and on top of her boyfriend), turned to face Ron, who as always, had something to say.

"Well... one down."


	6. A discussion With a Prince

The walk down to breakfast for both Ron and Hermione was one filled with nerve - how many people had Harry told? He wasn't one to go blabbing, but they both fully expected Harry to tell Ginny, who definitely would.

Ron groaned when he saw Harry sitting by Ginny, talking to her animatedly, opposite a laughing Seamus and Dean. Hermione sighed and led Ron to sit by them.

"Morning you two." said Ginny, smirking at them.

"So Harry told you about what he saw?" Ron muttered.

"Yes, but don't worry, he told me before we got down here. The world doesn't exactly know it. Yet." said Ginny.

"Know what?" asked Seamus with sudden interest.

"Nothing, it's just something Fred and George are working on." Harry lied smoothly.

"Blimey, I love their stuff, can't we have a sneak peak or something?" asked Dean.

"Unfortunately, no. They like keeping it a surprise to as many people as possible. We just stumbled across it over the summer, and Harry saw the prototype they sent Ron." Ginny said, convincingly.

Hermione mouthed a 'thank you' to Harry and Ginny, and the Gryffindors ate their breakfast as normal. Ginny went off to her charms class, while Harry, Ron and Hermione had a free period, in which they went back to an empty common room and started talking.

"OK. So I'm really happy for you and all, but where the hell did this come from? You two were both pissed at each other just yesterday!" said Harry.

"Well we just had a really long conversation about Ron's new... status I guess and one thing led to another before Ron... said he loves me." said Hermione, turning to Ron with an adoring smile on her face.

Ron's ears turned red as Harry spoke again.

"Blimey Ron, I didn't know you had it _that_ bad!" he said, smirking at him.

Ron's face went the way of his ears.

"Well I couldn't really help it, could I?" he mumbled.

Harry then took pity on Ron, and changed the subject.

"So, did anything happen with your hyperleginimency? I imagine you'd have been thinking pretty strongly about Hermione last night." He asked.

"Actually no. My thoughts were just all over the place to be honest." said Ron.

"I guess that makes sense. So... I know you two have been sort of...building towards this for a while, but this isn't going to change the way the three of us are... right?" Harry asked.

"Oh of course not! All this means is that we'll argue less, and I don't know about you Ron, but I'll be more focused, because my mind won't end up drifting back to my insecurities regarding you." Hermione explained.

"Yeah that sounds about right." said Ron.

Harry smiled.

"Good enough for me." he said.

* * *

The next few weeks went as smoothly as ever for Harry, Ron and Hermione. People slowly began to find out about Ron and Hermione's new relationship, and it was one of the big gossip topics for their year for about a week, before it died down. Apart from Hermione's 'disapproval' of Dean and Seamus' bet over whether Ron and Hermione would become an item, tempers did not actually flare at all.

Ron and Hermione were as comfortable around each other and Harry as ever, and they could focus on day-to-day school life and, when they had time, Harry's meetings with Dumbledore and Ron's hyperleginimency. No headway was being made, but it didn't bother Ron as much as it used to, because, as he put it, he could always snog Hermione and feel better. Hermione wasn't exactly complaining.

One day however, Ron decided to go and see Snape about the hyperleginimency. He didn't expect Snape to know much, but even Snape deserved to know what Ron wanted to do (invade his mind).

"Sir?" he asked, knocking on the door to his office one evening.

"Weasley. I suppose you're here to ask for an extension on my essay on inferi? If that is the case, you are wasting your time." He said in a very classically Snape-ish way.

"Actually no sir. You see, after the stuff that happened at the end of last year, and the brains which attacked me, I've been... different I guess. Every now and again I've been able to read people's minds, but I can't really control it. Also, this one time, I managed to speak to Hermione through our shared thoughts. Professor Dumbledore says it's something called hyperleginimency, but it's supposed to be dead." Ron explained.

Snape at first didn't believe him, but when Dumbledore's name was mentioned, Snape had to concede that the extraordinary things Ron was saying were probably true.

"I see. And how has Professor Dumbledore advised you regarding this... _development?_" Snape asked.

"Well he didn't know much about it. The thing is- no one really does. Hermione's been combing the library more than ever, and hasn't really found anything. I've been trying to practice using it and I can't really get it to work often at all. Sometimes I can catch a couple of thoughts of random people but that's about it." said Ron.

"Are you here to ask me for assistance Weasley? You'll be disappointed to hear that I know even less than you on this subject. As far as I was aware, most people with the powers of leginimency have to learn it and practice it to master it, and most of them need wands. Those who can perform leginimency without wands are rare. Only two wizards come to mind. You know of whom I speak, I presume?" Snape asked.

"Yeah I do. But a normal leginimens can't exactly speak to people _inside their minds_ can they? And I've never tried to learn this stuff but I'm already doing it without a wand. I was just wondering... Could I practice this with you? I mean Harry and Hermione aren't good enough at Occlumency but you are. Firstly, I don't know how hyperleginimency works on a good occlumens and secondly, you know more about magic than we do." said Ron.

Snape was initially taken aback. He and Ron had gotten along almost as badly as he and Harry. For Ron to come to him must mean that behind the intense mutual loathing, there must have been some grudging respect.

"What purpose would you have in mind, using these abilities of yours should you be able to master it one day?" Snape asked.

"Helping Harry beat You-Know-Who. I reckon it could come in handy, don't you? And you're a leginimens too, so I thought why not ask you?" Ron asked.

"Very well Weasley. We will have to construct an extra timetable for these lessons. It will _not _excuse you from homework however. I sincerely hope you are better with leginimency than Potter was at occlumency." Snape said in a business-like tone.

"OK, I'll just write out a copy of my timetable and give it to you next lesson then sir. Thanks." said Ron, before leaving.

Ron was surprised. He had just had a full conversation with Snape, and no one started yelling and no points were taken from Gryffindor. And no detentions too.

Hermione was waiting for him in a nearby corridor, as they were to start their patrol after Ron saw Snape.

"So, did he say yes?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah actually, and no detentions or swear words were thrown around. Oh how the mighty have fallen" said Ron, sighing dramatically.

Hermione giggled for a moment.

"It's a step in the right direction at least." she said.

"But come on, you've got to admit, that guy needs to be hated. A lot." said Ron.

"If I were to look at it objectively, from both sides, Dumbledore trusts him and he's been a spy for our side which is dangerous as it is. But I suppose he is a bit unfair isn't he?" Hermione said.

"A bit?" Ron asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh alright, given the opportunity, he's completely unfair." Hermione admitted.

Ron gasped pretending to be shocked.

"I never thought the day would come! Hermione Granger ciriticizing a staff member! Does this mean Dumbledore's going to turn stupid and Malfoy's going to be nice?" Ron asked in a faux-dramatic manner.

Hermione slapped Ron lightly on the shoulder, but her face showed her amusement.

"Won't change what I'm about to do." said Ron.

"And what were you planning on-" Hermione began, before being interrupted by a very sudden but not unwelcome kiss from Ron.

"And... what prompted that?" Hermione asked breathlessly when they broke apart.

"I don't need a reason, do I? Well... I guess that you being gorgeous is a reason." said Ron.

Hermione responded in kind, pulling Ron's face down to hers and kissing him the same way he just kissed her. Suddenly and passionately.

Ron snaked his arms around Hermione and when his hands found her thighs, he lifted her up and let her wrap her legs around his waist.

"You... have to... stop... being... so seductive" Ron said in between kisses.

This spurred Hermione on for a moment, before she realised they had a patrol to do. Reluctantly, she pulled away from Ron, who, sensing that Hermione wanted to stop for whatever reason, put her down.

"Ron, I'm sorry, _believe me_ I wanted to continue, but we have to finish our patrol." said Hermione regretfully.

"Ugh why did you have to be right about that?" Ron grumbled.

"Sorry, but we _do _have duties as prefects." said Hermione.

"Yeah. Let's just get this over with." Said Ron.

"_Get this over with?_ Mr. Weasley, what do you plan on doing if we finish this patrol prematurely?" Hermione asked teasingly.

"Room of Requirement." Ron said, smirking, leaving it all open to interpretation

"And we wouldn't even be breaking any rules... perfect!" said Herimone.

Ron smiled to himself. Alone time with her boyfriend and Hermione immediately thinks about potential rule-breaking. Only Hermione...

Sure enough, their patrol did end early, (due in no small part to their motivation to save time) and the pair of them found themselves in the room of requirement. Hermione imagined a room with what Ron would have called 'those cliches in romance novels' - , a queen-sized bed and candles. Although romance novels wouldn't have had candles that floated.

Ron whistled in response to seeing the room Hermione had thought up, before suddenly realising the implications of the bed.

"Hermione? There's a bed here, are you suggesting that we errr - I mean we haven't actually talked about sex at all." Ron started before his ears went red.

Hermione's face turned the same colour as Ron's ears.

"No! I didn't mean... I just wanted to spend the night with you! Wait that didn't sound right either... I meant-" Hermione started before Ron, who had figured out what she wanted to say, put her out of her misery.

"Hermione, I get it, it's fine! Relax, you just want to be next to me tonight or something?" Ron tried.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes, I just wanted to share a bed with you, since we haven't done it since that first night. Without... _that._" said Hermione.

For once, Ron was the one to roll his eyes.

"Hermione, it's just sex, nothing weird." said Ron.

"I know, it's just that... it's _you_." said Hermione.

"What do you mean by that?" Ron asked.

"Well... sex was properly explained to me by my parents in terms of body mechanics when I was eleven, after I got my Hogwarts letter. You see my parents wanted to send me to an all-girls school, and wanted to explain sex to me a bit later but when Hogwarts was on the table that changed." Hermione said.

"Wait, your parents wanted to explain it to you while you were in muggle secondary school? Isn't that a bit late?" Ron asked.

"I'm an only child Ron, my parents are more... sheltering if you get what I mean." said Hermione.

"Oh OK. So where are you going with this?" Ron asked.

Hermione bit her lip, contemplating whether or not she should explain to Ron what was on her mind. Realising that the two of them had said that they were in love with each other, this was hardly anything radical.

"Well you were the first person I ever thought about... having sex with. In fact, in the time I've known you, I've rarely thought about it with anyone else. Needless to say that I haven't thought about anyone else at all since we got together. I probably sound like some typical lovesick teenager." Hermione explained blushing more and more furiously as she spoke, also looking down at her feet as she did so.

Ron raised his eyebrows, slightly surprised at this confession.

"You know, I'm kind of in the same boat as you actually." he said, putting his hand on her shoulder and smiling at her encouragingly.

"Really?" Hermione asked, suddenly feeling better about her confession.

"Yeah. I reckon anyone who's ever fancied someone for ages just starts thinking about no-one else. Sounds pretty normal to me." said Ron, causing Hermione to kiss him on the cheek.

"Funny how people call you insensitive. Myself included of course." said Hermione.

"Well you're right actually. I just have my moments." Ron replied, grinning.

"More moments than you'd realise." Hermione whispered, wrapping her arms around Ron's neck and pulling his head down to hers.

Ron didn't particularly feel like wasting any time at all, and kissed Hermione softly, while picking her up and bringing her to the bed, where the pair of them spent the night.


	7. Spiderman lessons

Ron had no idea what to expect for his first hyperleginimency session with Snape. All he knew was that Snape had plans to aid in his ability to focus. He knocked on Snape's door and Snape answered, looking particularly unhappy, making Ron inwardly gulp.

"Sit down." said Snape.

As Ron did so, Snape pulled a chair and sat down directly opposite him. Ron didn't know what it was, but being in such close proximity to Snape with no one else present, and directly making eye contact with him was an uncomfortable experience. Snape's gaze seemed to be more piercing and intense than ever before.

"I have discussed your situation with professor Dumbledore. Before we begin, you should know something that the pair of us have recently learned. Spending too much time within someone else's mind may have you taking on the emotions of the person whose mind you have invaded. Simply put, if you were to penetrate the Dark Lord's mind, and should he be feeling enraged, the longer you spend in his mind, the more enraged you will become yourself. The reasons for this are as of yet unknown. Do you still wish to continue?" Snape explained.

Ron thought for a moment. If he was spying on Voldemort, he didn't want to start taking up that level or rage, especially not around Harry or Hermione. But with that in mind, his ability could prove too valuable to pass up, regardless of the risks.

"Yeah I do. I get that it might affect me but at the end of the day, it's all about stopping _him, _isn't it?" said Ron.

"Very well. What I have planned may seem counterproductive, but I have thought it out. I will attempt to penetrate _your_ mind. Can you think of why?" Snape asked.

Ron looked at Snape as if he'd sprouted an extra set of limbs. Wasn't _he _supposed to be the one trying to learn how to read minds efficiently? Snape quickly figured out that as far as Ron could tell, he was talking nonsense.

Sighing, he explained himself.

"It is so I can monitor your ability to focus on one particular thing. Or person in this case. I will know when your mind drifts. Only when you learn to focus can we truly begin to attempt to make your powers flourish." Snape explained.

Ron nodded, finally understanding what at first seemed completely counterproductive.

"Prepare yourself. To start, you will focus intently on my desk. Something uninteresting should allow me to see how focused you can be." said Snape.

It didn't take long for Ron's mind to drift, even though he knew that Snape was monitoring him. He couldn't help it - every time he tried to focus on Snape's desk, his mind would keep drifting to the more interesting things in the potions classroom, such as the extremely odd ingredients on Snape's top shelves reserved (he assumed) for difficult seventh year potions.

They went at it for over three hours, but the hour felt like days for the pair of them. Neither one of them were enjoying the experience and the mutual lack of fondness between the two made it all the more unpleasant. Ron could tell Snape was trying his hardest not to snap and start insulting his (admittedly poor) attention span. Ron himself wanted to break something. It was exceedingly frustrating to try and focus on something so mundane, and having someone like Snape looming over him was no aid.

He left the classroom almost four hours after he arrived, feeling sleepy, frustrated and useless. Snape said that he expected it to take at least weeks of rigorous practice before notable improvements could be made - attention span and the ability to focus wasn't something that improved easily.

It was roughly two in the morning by the time Ron was back at the common room, and to his surprise, Hermione and Harry were waiting there on the sofas. Well... they were waiting at some point, now they were just asleep.

Ron smiled, knowing that both of them felt the need to try and stay up, but he wasn't surprised that they fell asleep - none of them had been getting much sleep at all, and the next morning they had potions at first period.

He poked Harry awake first, smirking as he did so.

"Uh?" Harry grunted, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"You two didn't need to stay up for me... or try to at least. By the way, stay quiet, Hermione's still asleep." said Ron.

"Yeah, but as much as I hate to say it, Snape's probably going to be more helpful than me or even Hermione with this stuff. We were curious." said Harry, yawning in between some of his words.

"You don't know that yet - so far he's trying to improve my focus. Let me tell you it's shit." said Ron.

Harry grimaced - the last focus-based lessons he himself had with Snape were far from enjoyable.

"I've got to say I wasn't expecting you to go through that bullshit, but I guess it's needed, focus is the key to your powers right?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. He had me focusing on his bloody desk, of course my mind's going to drift, it's such boring stuff!" Ron said, bemoaning his lesson which still had him frustrated. He couldn't imagine doing it regularly for months.

"It's going to be worth it, remember that." said Harry.

"Yeah, I guess that'll be the only thing that'll keep me on this, it's going to be a grind, no doubt." said Ron.

Harry nodded in agreement.

"Should I wake Hermione up or just carry her upstairs to the boys dorm? That bloody slide won't exactly help me get her into her own bed." said Ron, motioning towards Hermione, who was still fast asleep.

"Just carry her, if you think you can do that without waking her up." said Harry.

Just then though, Hermione decided to wake up upon hearing Ron and Harry talking continuously.

Yawning, she sat up and addressed them and what she knew Ron had spent his time doing.

"Ron, how was it? I hope you didn't butt heads with Professor Snape too much." She said, tiredly.

"I don't think there was any bad blood between us this time, but it was still shit." said Ron.

"Why's that?" Hermione asked.

"I had to focus on such boring stuff all night, you have no idea how hard it was!" Ron explained.

"It won't come in one night, the human brain just jumps around all the time. Have you ever read someone trying to mimic a stream of consciousness?" asked Hermione.

"A what?" Harry piped in.

"A stream of consciousness - basically someone writing in a way which mimics the way humans think. I'm guessing neither of you have by your reactions, so I'll sum it up. It's convoluted, the subject is changed frequently and there is no such thing as a pause - your brain doesn't stop, and so it won't stop switching." Hermione explained.

"Oh Ok, so you're basically saying that I can't help the randomness any time soon?" Ron asked.

"Pretty much. It is possible to keep your focus on one thing and one thing only, but it's extremely difficult. I hate to say it but you'll be boring yourself silly for weeks before you see notable results. Don't worry, you'll still have Quidditch and Hogsmeade!" Hermione explained.

"I_ did _sign up for this shit, I'll have to deal with it." said Ron.

"You don't have to put yourself through it you know." Harry pointed out.

"Yeah, but I have the ability to do something good, I should do it." said Ron.

"Spiderman lessons right there." Harry quipped, causing Hermione to laugh for a moment.

"What? What do spiders or men have to do with this?" Ron asked.

"Spiderman. He's a muggle fictional character who can climb walls and shoot webs. One of the most famous lines in the whole Spiderman story is 'with great power comes great responsibility'" said Hermione.

"Oh, ok. Then yeah, this is a Spiderman lesson. I have the power, so I have a responsibility to use it to hopefully flatten You know who's plan." said Ron.

Hermione smiled at Ron warmly.

"Anyway guys, I'm heading off to bed. I have basically no energy whatsoever right now." said Harry, who shuffled off towards the boys' dormitories.

"I think I'll go to bed as well. Can I sleep in your bed?" Hermione asked Ron.

"Yeah of course. You're not expecting me to be all... energetic right now are you?" Ron asked, his ears reddening slightly.

"Oh God no, it's late and we've both had a long day. For different reasons of course, but all I want to do is sleep, and it's just more comfortable with you." Hermione explained, blushing slightly.

"Bloody hell that's a relief! Shall we?" Ron asked, motioning for Hermione to go upstairs.


	8. Decisions, decisions

Time passed on at Hogwarts as it usually would, and before long, it was almost Christmas. Save for a frightening incident with Katie Bell, nothing particularly unusual was happening.

Hermione and Harry were invited To Slughorn's Christmas party, to which Hermione refused to go to without Ron (McLaggen was expected to be there too).

However, the Christmas part was far from the forefront of Ron's mind. Snape had noted that he was making measurable improvements, but there was much more work to be done. On top of that, Ron was spending more time with Ginny, who was growing increasingly unhappy with her relationship with Dean. The more time he spent with her, the more he was wondering whether keeping his powers a secret from her was the right course of action.

He _did_ want to keep her away from the war in any way, shape or form he could, yet this was a life changing ability for Ron, and surely his baby sister had the right to know?

And what about the rest of his family? His mother would almost certainly panic and try to keep Ron from getting into something which could get him hurt, and his father would surely have some lecture about responsibilities and choices - something he'd rather avoid at this point. And who knows how Fred and George would react...

Hermione and Harry both noticed that Ron was acting somewhat distracted during one evening in which the three of them were discussing the disappearances which were getting to be more and more prominent.

Harry caught Hermione's eye and pointed at Ron with his eyes.

Hermione figured out what Harry was saying. Whatever was bothering Ron, she was more likely to get it out of him and she was better equipped to handle it than Harry was by far.

"Anyway, I'm going to bed. Night guys." said Harry, without any semblance of subtlety. Hermione rolled her eyes at him, and Harry mouthed 'sorry' to her.

Hermione was surprised Harry would even try that when it was only eight-thirty.

Ron still seemed at least partially oblivious however. He acknowledged that Harry was heading to bed, but he was still clearly in his own head.

"Ron? Is something bothering you?" Hermione asked.

Ron didn't respond. He continued to stare blankly at his parchment.

Hermione lightly tugged on Ron's robes.

"Huh? What?" Ron said, snapping back to reality.

"Ron, there's something on your mind. What's wrong?" Hermione asked.

"It's nothing, you don't need to worry about it. Just a bit distracted is all." said Ron, smiling.

Hermione could see straight through this smile.

"Ron. Don't hide from me. I know that something important is on your mind, and I want to help." said Hermione firmly.

Ron sighed. There really was no use in hiding from this girl.

"I've been thinking about my family. They don't know about the hyperleginimency and Dumbledore doesn't want me to tell them until I have stronger control over it. But it's such a big thing you know? Should they get to know about this?" Ron asked.

Hermione slowly nodded, understanding exactly what the issue was. She reached into her bag and got out a spare piece of parchment.

"I think I can help you here." she said, writing something on the parchment.

"What are you writing?" Ron asked.

"A pro and con list. All of the factors we can think of for and against telling your family." said Hermione.

"Hermione, you don't need put in _that_ much effort into _my _problems." said Ron.

"Yes I do. You've been the _ideal_ boyfriend, and I'll admit to not spending enough time with you. You're right when you say I work too much. I might as well try and use that aspect of myself to being a better girlfriend." said Hermione, smiling widely at Ron.

"Hermione, when I say you work too much, I'm just taking the piss, I know you take it really seriously. Didn't realise that it made you feel like you weren't doing enough." said Ron, feeling slightly ashamed.

"No need to be ashamed Ron, _your_ jokes tend to be either sarcastic or based on observations. Sometimes, they're both. This time round, it's obviously an observation. I _do _spend too much time on my own, working compared to time I spend with you. You don't have that problem, because as I said, you're quite literally the ideal boyfriend." said Hermione, causing Ron's ears to turn pink.

"OK, well you're the ideal girlfriend whether you think so or not." said Ron. Hermione kissed him on the cheek before trying to get back to business.

"Thanks Ron, but either way, we have to sort through this. What are the pros for telling your them?" Hermione asked.

"Well firstly, I'd feel better about not keeping secrets from them. I guess for some reason I feel worst about not telling Ginny." said Ron.

"Well from the outside, I'd think that would be because you were always closer to Ginny than your other siblings. She told me about the times you two would team up to steal biscuits when you were little." said Hermione, smiling at the image of a tiny Ron hoisting a tinier Ginny onto his shoulders to steal food.

Ron blushed slightly - he would have preferred for Hermione to see him as more of a "man's man", but then again, not many men behaved in such a macho manner when they were five years old.

"Sounds about right. D'you think she'd be angry about this?" Ron asked.

"Not at all. She'd be worried that you'd feel invincible at times and get yourself into situations which are just too dangerous." said Hermione.

"How d'you figure?" Ron asked.

"It's what I'm worried about regarding this whole hyperleginimency thing. I know you're going to use it to help Harry fight the death eaters and... him and I can't stop you. But I always worry that you'll go too far, not knowing the limits of these abilities." said Hermione, putting the quill down for a second.

Ron sighed. He was expecting Hermione to be worried about this in some regard, but it seemed as if she'd put a lot more thought into it than he himself had. Not that he was surprised - Hermione was one to think almost everything through meticulously. Ron also noticed that Hermione was getting quite tense and upset just thinking about it all.

"Hermione please don't think like that. Yeah, we both know there's a war we'll be fighting soon. Yeah, we're going to be in danger. But between you, Harry, my family and our other friends, I reckon I have enough reason to not act like a reckless twat, don't you?" Ron asked.

"I... I suppose. I didn't really think of it that way." said Hermione. She was still visibly upset though.

"Hermione, you're bloody brilliant, but no one's ever going to think of _everything_. I don't want you to overthink things like this, it's not good for you. Please just remember that every bad thing that'll happen, there'll be good things happening too." said Ron, wrapping his arms around Hermione in a warm hug.

He felt Hermione trembling. Ron had no idea that she had played out the wartime scenarios in her head so comprehensively. That being said, she had good reason to.

"I can't believe this! I was supposed to be helping _you_ deal with the things you're worried about! And now look at us!" said Hermione, feeling deeply ashamed.

"Hermione, it's a two-way street. You help me, I help you." said Ron.

"And yet it feels like a one-way street. I managed a grand total of _one_ organised thought before you help me pull my head out of my arse!" said Hermione surprisingly bluntly.

Before Ron could comment on Hermione's sudden bluntness, Seamus, Dean and Ginny arrived. Their conversation was no longer private.

"Shall we move this to the room of requirement? I feel like we're due for a really long talk." said Ron.

"Yes, let's head there now." said Hermione.

Ginny caught Ron's eye and winked at him.

"No Ginny, it's not _that._" said Ron tiredly.

"_Of course_ it isn't." said Ginny, smirking. Dean and Seamus realised what Ginny was talking about and did the same.

"Have fun tonight!" said Seamus, while Dean wolf-whistled.

"Alright, our friends are all wonderful, but... _really?_ Is nothing else on their minds?" Hermione asked when they got outside Gryffindor tower.

"Well to be fair, it _did_ seem like that. At least it would from outside." said Ron.

"I suppose, but why is that always the first conclusion?" Hermione wondered.

"Because we're sixteen and seventeen year olds." Ron replied, simply.

Hermione paused for a moment.

"Yes, I suppose so. And in all fairness, it's not like I've never _thought_ about doing it." said Hermione.

She then realised what she just said and blushed furiously.

"Can you just forget I said that?" she asked, frantically.

Ron raised an eyebrow.

"Hermione, are you forgetting that we've admitted that we're _in love_?" Ron asked.

Hermione stayed silent.

"If it makes you feel any better, I think about it a lot. Of course it's pretty hard _not_ to think about it when you're... I dunno, being _you._ Does that make sense?" Ron asked.

"I suppose... but isn't it a little bit... I don't know, slutty to think about it this much and want it this badly?" Hermione asked. By this time they had arrived at the room, which looked essentially like a rich person's bedroom in a mansion.

"Not at all. You're just a person, you can't help it. Besides, I don't even see anything wrong with being a slut in the first place." said Ron.

Hermione was intrigued. It seemed as if Ron had given some thought to this matter, despite how his mother labelled such girls as 'scarlet women'.

"Well all people want to have sex. I guess there's some silly dislike of girls who want sex for some reason, and girls feel like they shouldn't want it. But any girl who thinks that they don't want sex is just lying to themselves. Maybe not as much as blokes, but still, there isn't anything wrong with wanting sex whether you're a bloke or not." said Ron.

Hermione was impressed. She herself had never thought about it in such a way, but Ron was definitely right. The idea of being 'pure' and not wanting sex definitely was being pushed on girls, and it forced them to suppress their urges.

"You're right. I don't know why I felt so ashamed of it." said Hermione.

"Simple. As brilliant as you are, you're still just a girl at the end of the day. I'm guessing you've been sort of... I dunno, trained to feel ashamed." said Ron.

"That does make sense..." said Hermione.

"Anyway, we're here for bigger reasons than us both admitting we want to tears each others' clothes off" said Ron, smirking.

"You arse!" said Hermione, though her smile betrayed her amusement.

"You feeling any better about the whole war situation at all?" asked Ron.

"A little bit, but as you said, I overthink things like this a lot. I think it would be better if I was doing things to keep my mind occupied. Things that are more immediately tangible." said Hermione.

"Yeah I hear you. I'm a little bit like that myself. Not with the overthinking things part, but I do like to keep myself distracted with the fact that I'm about to fight a war." said Ron.

"You don't have to worry about it yourself any more though. You pointed out that I'm in my head too much, and it's purely on me now to stop doing so. Thank you though, I never would have recognized it on my own." said Hermione.

"That's what I'm for, aren't I?" Ron replied.

"Now we need to get back to the matter that we started off by talking about. You telling your family." said Hermione, who pulled the parchment out from her pocket.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot about that." said Ron.

"OK, so we've established that your conscience would be clearer, what other pros are there?" Hermione asked.

"I'd get some more support from them definitely." said Ron, as Hermione wrote it down.

"No doubt, although I'll have to say that your mother might react in a similar way to me. She might be worried about you pushing the limits of your power too far and getting yourself hurt or killed." Hermione explained.

"Yeah, I've thought about that, but I can't do anything about it, can I? Though that works both ways, she's not stopping me from fighting. Overall, I reckon I'll get support, don't you?" Ron asked.

"Yes, I agree. Anything else?" Hermione asked.

"We get extra brains helping us make sense of this stuff. I mean having you on board is great, but more brainpower can't hurt, can it?" Ron explained.

"Definitely, I actually didn't think of that one." said Hermione, writing it down.

"Hmm... what else... Nope, that's it as far as I can tell." said Ron.

"Well there is also the fact that they can act as extra people who will allow you to read their minds." said Hermione.

"That sort of comes into the extra brains thing, but yeah I guess we can add that." said Ron.

"Alright, now for the cons." said Hermione.

"OK, so first thing is that they'll know I've kept this massive secret from them for months." said Ron, as Hermione wrote it down.

"I won't know how each one of them will react, and I reckon I'll be juggling a lot when they all know." said Ron. Hermione continued writing.

The pair of them discussed each and every point Ron had made, and talked about how much weighting each aspect would have on Ron's decision.

Unfortunately, Ron was still unable to make a decision then and there. Hermione, however did have a solution.

"Honestly, I think that you'll have to trust your gut here. I can see why you're torn here, and maybe your decision might be the wrong one, but there's not much you can do here. You'll have to treat it as though it were a snap-decision and deal with the consequences as they come." Hermione explained.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. By the way Hermione, thanks a lot for helping me out here. I know you're pretty good with making decisions and stuff, but you seemed to know exactly what to do at each step, how do you do that?" Ron asked.

Hermione blushed for a moment.

"Well... I have done this before." she said, quietly.

"Really? What was the decision?" Ron asked.

"It's embarrassing. You'll probably laugh. I know you won't think any less of me, but it's just silly. It's also very... I don't know, _girlish._" said Hermione.

"Trust me, I'm not going to laugh. And being girlish isn't a problem at all, you're a girl, aren't you?" Ron asked, grinning.

Hermione took one look at Ron's grin and caved.

"Oh alright. I made a for and against list for... you." said Hermione, unable to look Ron in the eye.

"Me... what? What does that even mean?" Ron asked, confused.

"In fourth year, after that massive argument at the Yule ball, I made a list that showed all the positives and negatives about fancying you." said Hermione, mortified.

"Ok... Sorry, but that actually is pretty funny." said Ron, smirking for a moment.

"Yes I know, it's just so out of character for me!" said Hermione.

"Actually I think it's funny because it's so _in_ character for you. If you have a problem, you think it through as much as possible, and making a list is pretty much _exactly _what I imagine you doing with stuff like this, but until now I thought it was just my imagination." said Ron.

"But it's not funny enough to laugh at?" Hermione asked, now able to look at Ron again.

"Not really, I mean I can't blame you, can I? You were probably confused, hurt and pissed off, the first thing you'd want to do would be rationalize stuff." said Ron.

"You really do know me well, don't you?" Hermione rhetorically asked, smiling at Ron.

"I sort of have to. Even if we weren't going out, it's sort of in the job description. Actually, I reckon Harry'd react pretty much the same way as I just did." said Ron.

"Well, thanks for not bursting out in laughter. It may not be a big thing to you, but to me it was." said Hermione, before kissing Ron on the cheek.

"No problem. Besides, I know you wouldn't laugh at something like that for me." said Ron.

"Well actually... remember when you first told Harry and I that you were afraid of spiders, and why? I laughed quite a lot at that." said Hermione, though after all these years, that event didn't make her feel as ashamed as it once did. Especially since Ron found out that Hermione was scared to death when she saw a boggart morphing into Professor McGonagall, telling her she'd failed all her exams. Ron and Harry, characteristically laughed like idiots at that.

"Bloody hell, you remember that?" Ron asked, laughing.

"Well yes, I used to feel really ashamed of it, but of course you got me back with Lupin's third year defence exam, didn't you?" Hermione replied, smirking at Ron.

"Yeah, I did, didn't I? It's not weird thinking of a more immature version of me, but it feels weird thinking of an immature version of you right now." said Ron.

"Now that I can't argue with. But if you keep _this_ up, then an immature version of you will feel just as alien." said Hermione, motioning between herself and Ron.

"What, you're saying that I'm not only a good boyfriend, but a mature one?" Ron asked, smirking.

"Maybe." said Hermione, coyly.

"I'm still allowed to snog you at any point, right?" Ron asked, his smirk broadening.

"Ron, I'd _encourage_ you to do so. In fact, I'd be annoyed if you didn't!" said Hermione.

Hermione then further learned just how well Ron had learned how to take a hint.


	9. Breakthrough

Christmas rolled around sooner than Harry, Ron and Hermione expected. The first term certainly flew by, despite the looming, constant threat of war, and with Dumbledore's initial speech still in mind, the more close-to-home threat of death-eater assets within the school itself.

Harry and Ron were spending Christmas at the Burrow, whilst Hermione was with her parents in London. Both Ron and Hermione took it surprisingly well given how happy and comfortable they seemed around each other, and contrary to Harry's expectations, being around just Ron as opposed to Ron and Hermione didn't see Ron talking about Hermione all the time. In fact, there weren't any differences in their friendship dynamic from then and a year earlier.

The real issue Harry was having was Ginny. He had finally stopped lying to himself and admitted that he at the very least, found Ginny absurdly attractive, and at worst, straight up fancied her. His best friend's sister. He knew that her relationship with Dean wasn't working, though he had no idea whether or not they were broken up yet. He didn't want to ask, for two reasons.

Firstly, he didn't want to give himself away, especially when he didn't even know whether she was still in a relationship. Secondly, what would he say, and how would he say it? 'Hey Ginny, have you broken up with Dean yet?' sounded rather daft.

Furthermore, talking to Ron about it would be extremely awkward, and the same applied to everyone else at the Burrow. Harry made the decision not to outwardly say anything about it. However, one afternoon, he walked into the living room to find Ginny in a very serious sounding conversation with Ron.

"Err... I can leave if you guys want." said Harry when the pair of them looked up at him.

"No, it's fine, I don't mind." said Ginny. Harry nodded and sat down opposite them.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"Dean and Ginny broke up just before the holidays. I'm trying to pull Ginny's head out of her arse." said Ron.

"Thanks." said Ginny, sarcastically.

Harry did a jig in his mind - even though he had nothing to do with said breakup, he felt like he'd won a minor victory.

"Well I can't imagine a breakup being good exactly, but what's wrong Ginny?" Harry asked.

"She thinks it's pretty much all her fault and she's not good enough or some crap." said Ron.

"I can speak for myself, thanks." said Ginny, glaring at Ron.

"Am I wrong?" Ron shot back.

"No." Ginny mumbled.

"OK... how do you figure you're not good enough? Last I checked, you're not exactly boring to be around." said Harry.

"I don't know, he just kept getting more and more distant over the last month or so. I felt like he just wasn't interested, so I'm guessing I was doing something wrong, or that I just wasn't good enough to hold his interest." said Ginny, who was uncharacteristically self-critical and lacking confidence at this point.

"Oh come off it, I didn't even know I was a wizard until I was eleven, and my entire life changed when Hagrid showed up. But I got over it really quickly. People lose interest in all sorts of stuff." said Harry.

Ron's eyes lit up.

"Actually, Hermione felt like she wasn't going to be able to keep my attention (don't worry, I sorted that out with her), but she explained it with some science-stuff that muggles worked out." said Ron.

"Oh?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah, there's this chemical called dopamine, and it gets released when good stuff happens to us. Hermione said it's the chemical responsible for us feeling good about stuff. But when we get used to stuff, no matter how good it is, less dopamine gets released." said Ron, proud he remembered something as complicated as dopamine releases.

"Trust Hermione to look at relationships by using neuroscience." said Harry, laughing.

"But if dopamine is released less often with stuff like a really long relationship, how come some people just stay married for their entire lives?" Ginny asked.

"Sometimes you find someone who can just cause a dopamine release in your brain forever, just because they work well for you. Why do you think mum and dad are still so happy?" Ron explained.

"Basically, Ron's saying that Dean just wasn't right for you and that someone out there, probably a few people actually _can_ make you feel happy forever, and you can do the same for them." said Harry.

Ron suddenly looked at Harry in a shocked manner. Ginny didn't notice, but Harry did.

_Crap. He's on to me._

Ron turned back to Ginny.

"Look, there's not a whole lot I can do about this to be honest, but really, you don't need to overthink this. There's like... I dunno, 3 billion blokes out there, Dean was just one. You've got your whole life ahead of you, and there's loads of much better stuff to be thinking about." said Ron.

"Would you be thinking that way if Hermione dumped you?" Ginny asked.

"Not at first. But in any case, Hermione and me have a bit of a different situation going on, don't we?" said Ron.

"True enough. Thanks though, both of you. I think I'll head back to my room for a bit." said Ginny, finally seeming to get over the breakup a little bit. Some time alone with her thoughts would help. However, it left Ron alone with Harry, and Ron had obviously just read Harry's mind.

"OK... so you know what I just heard in your head, right?" Ron asked, his expression completely unreadable.

"Err... yeah. Listen, she is your sister, and I know it's weird and awkward and stuff, and if it bothers you, I won't do anything, OK?" Harry said.

Ron thought for a moment.

"OK... So honestly, I think if you two started going out I wouldn't really have any issues, as long as you're not a dick to her, which I doubt you'd be anyway. Honestly, if you want to... I dunno, go after her, go ahead, just don't make a point of making me know any details, OK?" said Ron.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well... thanks. But I won't really start now, I mean she just broke up with Dean, I think I'll wait for her head to be totally clear on it all before I even think about... I dunno, what's the word - 'courting' her?" said Harry.

"OK, that'll do. Can we talk about something else? Obviously I'd rather not talk about my best mate trying to date my sister." said Ron, uncomfortably.

"Yeah, no problem. How have your lessons with Snape being going?" asked Harry.

"A lot better actually. Next term I'll be moving on to actually trying to put it into practice. Though annoyingly, he said that he doesn't want me poking around his head. That made me suspicious, but then again, his private thoughts should stay private, right?" Ron asked.

"If it were anyone else, I wouldn't be suspicious. But this is Snape we're talking about. He's always been... I dunno, ambiguous is the word I'd say. I don't feel like he's totally trustworthy, mostly because aside from the fact that he's just a dick, I don't know a whole lot about him." said Harry.

"I get what you're saying, but it's safe to say Dumbledore knows enough about Snape and if _he_ trusts him..." said Ron, letting his statement hang.

"I know, and I've been told that before, but I still just can't shake the feeling, you know what I mean?" said Harry.

"OK, I guess that's fair enough. But anyway, speaking of the hyperleginimency, Hermione said I could practice on her randomly. Says a lot actually, doesn't it? It's like she's saying she has literally no secrets that she feels are worth keeping from me." said Ron, smiling broadly.

"Wow mate, that's great. You know, I was hoping you two being together would calm down the damn bickering, but I had no idea how deep it all went between you two. Makes me kind of jealous actually." said Harry, smiling just as broadly as Ron.

"So the chosen one's jealous of me?" Ron asked, smirking mischievously at Harry, who just rolled his eyes.

"I'm serious Ron, you've got it great." said Harry.

"Thanks mate. Though that's pretty much down to you and Hermione, isn't it?" replied Ron.

"I guess so. Anyway, before you start cheating on Hermione with me, how about some chess?"

* * *

Other guests did make their way to the burrow, including Remus and Tonks, who by this point were dating. Harry and Ron thought it was brilliant, as did Tonks, but Remus had his reservations, entirely due to his 'furry little problem'.

Harry and Ron both insisted that it shouldn't mean anything - the issues in Remus' life were all out of his control.

Regardless of how strongly Ron felt about Remus' relationship with Tonks, it wouldn't normally have been the type of thing that really affected him at all. However, his hyperlegenimency had something to say about that.

_Why would anyone, let alone someone like Tonks want a relationship with someone both poor and dangerous?_

Ron nudged Harry as soon as he heard that.

Harry looked confused at first, but upon seeing the look on Ron's face, he knew what was going on. The pair of them excused themselves from the living room and Ron focused with all the intensity that he could on Harry next, so as to avoid invading Remus' privacy.

However, possibly for the first time ever, it was working.

_Please tell me it's working... man that would be a huge step forward... wow I'm hungry, what's Mrs. W__easley cooking tonight? If it's chicken, I swear I'll jizz my pants. Oh, and gravy... _

"You're starting to sound like me mate!" said Ron.

"Don't lose focus!" Harry urged, causing Ron to silence himself and continue. He was certainly in the zone so to speak.

_Please please let it continue working... Ron if you hear me, don't stop thinking - don't speak, just think. I'll keep some kind of internal monologue going about this stuff. OK, looks like you can hear me, good. Keep it coming. You know, if you can still hear me, this is one of the longest strings of thoughts you've ever heard. Kind of like that string of saves you did in the Slytherin game . Catching the snitch wasn't even that hard for me because they just lost their ability to work as a team since you saved everything. Kind of like that Quidditch world cup game we watched. Funny how one minute Hermione watched Krum live in a world cup match then went to a ball with him, pissed you off and ended up dating you. Funny how the world works, isn't it? Wait... how did I get from hyperleginimency to you dating Hermione? _

**_Because like Hermione said, your thoughts are always random and all over the place. Now that you're thinking about what you're thinking about, you're noticing how random it is._**

_Wait... you're now inside my head? So this is what it feels like. I'll tell you, this is weird._

**_Huh... so I am. Yeah, this is weird. So should I stay in your head like this or should I stop? I think this has been a pretty successful... I dunno, "session", do I need to go on? It's actually kind of tiring to stay focused on you like this._**

_Yeah, no problem mate._

"Wow." said Ron.

"Yeah." said Harry.

"So I'm going to go ahead and say we don't need to do that again." said Ron.

"Actually, I think it'd be useful." said Harry.

"Oh?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, we'd be able to talk to each other without the risk of anyone else ever hearing a thing. It'd be great, from a lesson with Snape to being on some badass anti-death eater mission. They'd never know a thing." said Harry.

"True actually! Wait, some of them know leginimency. But still, you're right!" said Ron.

"More importantly, you're definitely getting better at this. I know you said it's sort of tiring, but d'you think you could get into Hermione's head from here and tell her? If not, you can obviously just write a letter." said Harry.

"Yeah, I'll give it a shot." said Ron.

Ron was taken aback when he started hearing Hermione's thoughts almost immediately.

_Wow, when did dad get so good at cooking turkey? This is amazing! The potatoes too... oh if Ron could hear me now..._

_**Well I can hear you right now, can you hear me by any chance?**_

_Ron! You're- when did you start listening in?_

**Just now actually, glad you've got some good food over there.**

_Never mind that, how difficult was it this time round? Getting into my head?_

_**Not too hard actually. Snape's lessons really are working. Though I am sort of... I dunno, in the zone as muggles would say. I sort of accidentally read Lupin's mind, then got into Harry's mind really easily, so I wanted to let you know too.**_

_That's amazing! how long before you start finding out how well it works on an occlumens?_

_**Not sure - that'd be up to Snape I guess.**_

_Well that's fair. Listen, I've got to go, it's really hard talking to you in my head and to my parents at the same time._

_**Yeah, that's fine. Just so you know, I do miss you.**_

_I miss you too. If you can get this working again later, can you do so? I know it's difficult, but it's quicker than owl post and I just miss even hearing your voice, as lovesick as I sound._

**_Will do Hermione. Or... hopefully I can. Enjoy dinner._**

"Phew! That really wasn't easy!" said Ron.

"Yeah, thinking extremely hard about your girlfriend, total nightmare!" Harry teased.

Ron gave Harry a playful shove.

"Come on, let's get some food." he said.

In spite of Ron having access to the very thoughts of people when focused upon hard enough, and the increasingly gloomy atmosphere across the wizarding world, Harry and Ron had a pleasant, carefree evening, something which the pair of them realized they didn't get often enough. Unfortunately, Such evenings were going to be few and far between from then onwards.


	10. Merriest Christmas

Later that night, Ron found himself once more entering Hermione's mind, though it was after dinner when most of the burrow was off to bed.

**Hermione? Can you hear me?**

_Yes I can, I'm sorry I haven't written yet, I've just been spending a lot of time trying to explain my situation with you to my parents. They're almost as surprised as I was._

**No problem. Are they OK with us?**

_Yes they are. And like I said, once I told them that you said you love me, all they've been talking about is getting to meet you. I know you've seen them before, but that was just once for a couple of minutes in Diagon alley when you were twelve._

**Yeah, I can see what they mean. Actually mum was telling me that she'd be up for having you and your mum and dad round for Christmas, she says she finds it a bit off that Harry basically lives here, and you spend a fair amount of time here yet none of us really know your parents.**

_She's right, it is a bit odd that Harry, you and I are this close, and you two don't really know my parents. Hang on, I think they're downstairs watching TV, I'll ask them. Try and stay in my mind._

**Will do.**

Ron listened as Hermione explained the whole situation with how well they all knew her parents and asked whether it was OK for them to spend Christmas at the burrow, and was pleased to hear that the Grangers would be coming to the Burrow. Mostly because he wanted to see Hermione. Quite badly in fact.

**So, you're coming over for Christmas? Awesome! **

_Yes, it certainly looks that way! Do you know any... discreet spots around your house or the surrounding area by any chance?_

**I'm liking what I'm hearing! To be honest, while we're in the house, there's not much we could do, but d'you remember the pond you met me at over summer? We could head out there. Though since it's so bloody freezing, we wouldn't be in much of a position to lose any clothes...**

_Shame._

**I like this side of you!**

_Well this will only really be a taster. When we get back to Hogwarts, there are so many more discreet spots. And the room of requirement..._

**Hermione you're going to be the death of me, I swear. Doubt I'll be able to sleep with that stuff on my mind.**

_I'm glad I'm having such an effect on you._

**You have no idea... just wait until I get you alone.**

_OK... now that thought is going to keep me from sleeping too. _

**Yeah, you weren't going to get away with doing that to me unscathed... good look sleeping you little minx!**

_Have I told you that I love you lately?_

**Well you have now. I love you too.**

_I think I'm going to go to bed, but sleeping will be a whole different matter. I'll see you in two days though! I can't wait!_

**Neither can I. Goodnight Hermione.**

Ron did manage to get to sleep eventually. He did so with an enormous smile on his face.

* * *

Christmas did come round after two days of good-natured ribbing from Harry about how giddy with excitement Ron was. Ron always did enjoy Christmas, but this time round he definitely couldn't care less about the holiday itself.

Sure enough, there was a knock on the door which Ginny answered, and Ron saw Hermione and her parents. Hermione's mum looked nothing like Hermione herself, minus the hair color. Hermione looked almost exactly like her father, though of course a feminine version of him. Despite her parents being around, after greeting Ginny and wishing her Merry Christmas, Hermione, upon seeing Ron squealed, ran up to him and hugged him hard.

"Woah- Merry Christmas to you too!" said Ron, slightly taken aback.

"Sorry, It's just different not seeing you this time, you know?" said Hermione.

"Yeah I get you. Oh hi Mr. and Mrs. Granger, I'm Ron. Good to meet you properly this time." said Ron once Hermione detached herself from him.

"Nice to meet you too. Judging by Hermione's reaction to you, things appear to be going well!" said Mr. Granger jovially.

"You could say that." said Ron, catching Hermione's eye and grinning broadly.

"Well Hermione's told us a lot about you of course, in fact the more she would talk about you getting on her nerves over the last two or so years, the more I had certain suspicions about what was really happening..." said Mrs. Granger, smiling at her daughter mischievously.

"Mum!" Hermione interjected, her cheeks glowing red.

Before Mrs. Granger further embarrassed Hermione, Mr and Mrs. Weasley came down the stairs, followed by Fred, George, Remus and Tonks.

Many Christmas greetings were exchanged, and Harry thought to himself gloomily how quickly things could change, given the rate at which Voldemort was gaining support and power.

Ron and Ginny both noticed Harry's uncomfortable look, and Ron suggested that Ginny talk to him, since he was currently being questioned by Hermione's parents.

"Ease off on the Christmas cheer, why don't you?" Ginny joked, whilst putting a santa hat on his head.

Harry chuckled for a moment before beginning to speak his mind.

"I know Christmas isn't the time for this sort of stuff but for some reason I just got reminded of how easily and quickly things could change. Voldemort's hardly slowing down on picking up support, and I can't very well see him stopping to celebrate Christmas, can you?" Harry asked.

Ginny smirked at the image of Voldemort wearing a party hat, pulling crackers with Lucius Malfoy, before offering her own advice.

"I think that's actually a good thing for us. Look at the dinner table and try and tell me that what you're seeing isn't worth fighting for." said Ginny.

Harry did just that and smiled. He saw people he cared about. His two best friends, both of whom were clearly blissfully in love, their families with them, and some other friends to boot. He considered everyone at the table to be his own family. He then turned to Ginny and was reminded exactly why he was developing such feelings for her.

"Yeah, you're right. Guess it's time for me to put myself in a food coma with this turkey then." said Harry.

Christmas dinner that night without a doubt, was one of the best Harry had ever had. However, looking at Ron and Hermione, he could already tell that they wanted dinner to be over as soon as possible and get some time to themselves. Harry could hardly blame them of course, but couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy towards them, Ron particularly.

When dinner was over, Ron made good on what he told Hermione in their mental communication two days previously. He led Hermione out into the fields, towards the pond where Hermione met him in the summer. For Christmas time, it was surprisingly warm, enough for just a jumper to be adequate, and as a result, the place hardly looked different to how it did during the summer.

"Ron, I know we were talking a lot back inside, but I have to say, I've really missed you." said Hermione as the two of them sat down by a large tree.

"Yeah, I missed you too. Harry won't stop taking the mickey of course, but I'm not exactly making it hard for him. I can hardly stop thinking about you." Ron replied.

"I'm still surprised that you seem so captivated by me. Though I'm hardly complaining." said Hermione, leaning on Ron's shoulder.

"I know we're having a bit of a moment here, but I found out something a little bit surprising about Harry actually." said Ron.

"Oh?" Hermione asked.

"Apparently he fancies Ginny." Ron explained.

"_Really?_ Isn't she with Dean?" Hermione asked.

"No, they broke up right before the holidays. I know Ginny's my sister and all, but this is Harry we're talking about. I wouldn't trust anyone else to be honest, should I tell him to go for it? Help him out maybe?" Ron asked.

"Well I think so. I think Ginny still has that big crush on Harry she used to have, she just doesn't let it turn her into a clumsy blushing tomato when he's around any more." said Hermione, fondly remembering what Ginny was like a few years back.

"If she does, then she's been pretty convincing about hiding it. Should I ask her?" asked Ron.

"I think if you asked her, she'd be suspicious. I know you're her brother, but that's not the sort of thing you talk to her about, is it? I think I'll ask her myself." Hermione pointed out.

"True. Hey, if she does, we'll have pulled off a Christmas miracle by ourselves. Pulling Harry's head out of his arse when it comes to girls." said Ron.

"In all fairness, you weren't too quick on pulling _your _head out of your own arse regarding me, were you?" Hermione replied, smirking.

Ron gave Hermione a playful shove.

"Still though, I did suck it up and come out with it, didn't I? Though I did do a pretty shit job..." Ron mused.

"Actually I thought you were brilliant. The whole time, you were being respectful to me, and considerate. It was only natural for you to be nervous." said Hermione, before kissing Ron on the cheek.

Ron found himself with a very broad grin on his face. Displays of affection from Hermione would never get old.

"Don't sell yourself short. There's a reason for the fact that I catch myself thinking about you at random." said Hermione.

"I think about you a lot too. It's not random though." said Ron, smirking mischievously.

"Is that so? And what would the reason be Ronald?" Hermione replied coyly.

"Little bit of this." said Ron, kissing her neck.

"And this."

Collarbone.

"Though mostly this." said Ron, before kissing Hermione on the lips, more softly than he expected, given the nature of the conversation they just had.

"Oh Ron... what are you doing to me?" Hermione asked, moaning as she spoke.

"What I bloody well please." he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her onto his lap.

* * *

Most of the Burrow's current inhabitants and guests had no idea when or where Hermione and Ron had slipped off to, and chalked it down to them just being a couple.

Harry had spotted them, however, and knew exactly where they were headed. During Harry's second stay there, he and Ron had flown about around the area, and the area he knew Ron and Hermione were currently at was secluded, and relatively far away. It had a pond and a few trees, like an oasis in the middle of a field.

At this point, having seen Ron and Hermione bombarded with questions from their parents, Harry thought they deserved a bit of time to themselves.

The more he thought about them (whilst being around Ginny), the more reckless he felt about the idea of just straight up telling Ginny that he fancied her, not caring that Fred and George of all people were in the house. He did, however, restrain himself, in spite of Ginny looking more beautiful than ever with all the festivities and Christmas cheer being thrown around.

Eventually though, the time came for Hermione and her parents to head off back home.

"Thank you very much for having us Molly, Arthur. I do hope we can do this again soon." said Mr. Granger.

"Any time Henry. In fact, you're all welcome to come here for New Year's as well, I doubt Hermione or Ron would object, am I right?" Mrs Weasley said, causing Hermione to blush and Ron to smirk.

"That would be lovely. We were thinking of just heading into central London, but spending time with all of you again sounds wonderful. What time would you be ready to have us again?" Mrs. Granger asked.

"Oh any time in the evening on New Year's eve would be fine. In fact I'd like to come and collect you myself if that's alright? Do you have a fireplace?" Mr. Weasley asked. Ron caught Harry's eye. Both of them knew that Mr. Weasley wanted to get another good look at a muggle home.

"Yes, but why would a fireplace help?" Mr. Granger asked.

"Dad, that's what I mean when I say wizards can flu each other. We use magic powder to transport ourselves between certain places and we walk out through the fireplace." Hermione explained.

"Fascinating! Well yes, we do have a fireplace, I suppose we'll expect you to just pop into our living room then?" Mr. Granger asked.

Everyone said their goodbyes, Ron and Hermione's predictably being the longest, before the burrow went back to being normal. Well... as normal as things could realistically be at such a house.


	11. Party like it's 1997

**A.N: I know both of Hermione's parents would have the title of Dr. Granger, as they're dentists, but I've taken to calling them Mr. and Mrs. Granger to avoid confusion here. Don't worry, I'm no Harry Potter newbie!**

On New year's eve, The Grangers and Mr. Weasley arrived at five in the evening sharp; something which Harry chuckled to himself about for a moment. Clearly, the Grangers were all prompt and organised, it wasn't just Hermione.

Predictably, Hermione immediately went over to Ron and Harry, though the three of them headed up to Ron's room and decided to begin discussing more serious matters than a little New Year's gathering.

Ron was the first with some news.

"I... wrote to Snape." he said.

"What?" Hermione asked, shocked.

"Yeah. I told him that I'm genuinely finding it easier to get into people's heads, and funnily enough, he's replied." said Ron, passing Harry and Hermione Snape's letter.

_Mr. Weasley,_

_While it is encouraging to see that you seem to have a more natural grasp of your abilities, I will warn you not to get ahead of yourself or to spend too long within another's mind; remember, as we discussed, you will be taking on the emotions of the person whose mind you invade for a short time._

_That being said, I will not discourage you from using your abilities period, as you will never make any progress without practicing. I expect you are spending your holidays with Granger and Potter, and assuming you are still as friendly with them as ever, they will be helping you. What I ask of you for the remainder of the holidays is that you keep some form of journal, writing down everything in your thought process as you enter their minds. You will bring this journal with you to our next defence against the dark arts lesson and hand it in to me at the end of the lesson. By the time our first private meeting, I will have read through it and prepared a further set of tasks for you to perform so as to allow you to learn how to truly master your hyperleginimency._

_Severus Snape  
Defence against the Dark Arts  
Head of Slytherin House_

"Glad to see he's not any different when he writes letters." Harry said, wryly.

"This time though, that's quite an advantage, don't you think? For all the things we say about Snape, he is very direct and straight to the point, isn't he?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, and don't get me wrong, I totally get why he's asking me to do this journal, but homework on the Christmas holidays... fuck me!" said Ron.

Hermione didn't bother to reprimand Ron's vulgarity, even she would prefer not to do any work whatsoever during Christmas.

"It's not really homework, but yeah, I feel bad for you mate. I wish I could help you out, but he's asking you to write down your thought process, so..." Harry said.

"Yeah, thanks mate but don't worry, I'll deal with it." said Ron.

"But on the bright side, you truly are becoming a lot more powerful regarding your hyperleginimency!" said Hermione, smiling at Ron.

Every time Hermione complimented him, Ron's stomach did a flip. Ron grinned in response.

"But as Snape said, I can't get ahead of myself. I still need to find out how good I am at getting past occlumency users." said Ron.

"Of course, but for now you've made more than enough progress, so you can relax for a bit." said Hermione, leaning her head on Ron's shoulder.

"OK, can I vomit now?" Harry asked, referring to Ron and Hermione's affectionate behavior.

"Oh, be quiet Harry!" Hermione replied, blushing slightly.

"What can I say? Seeing you two like this makes me want to either shoot myself with a gun or feel some kind of relief that you're not arguing all the time. So I'll go about halfway and consider vomiting." said Harry.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. As if you wouldn't even think about being like this with Ginny." said Ron, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, fair enough." said Harry.

"So anyway, how much do you want to do with hyperleginimency this holiday? Also, did you ever make a decision on whether or not you're telling your family?" Hermione asked.

"Well for this holiday, I'll probably do a bit every day for the rest of the holiday, and yeah, I'll tell them. Just not now, maybe when I'm better at it." said Ron.

"Yes, that sounds about right." said Hermione.

The three of them talked for a little while longer, before heading downstairs, where they found friends, family and firewhiskey.

At this point, Harry and Hermione hadn't tried firewhiskey, whilst Ron had.

"Firewhiskey guys?" Ron offered.

"I've never tried it, why not?" Harry said, taking a sip.

Harry liked the taste, but it left a very strong burning sensation in his throat.

"Hermione?" Ron asked.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Hermione said with a great deal of uncertainty.

"It's legal Hermione, if that's what you're worried about." said Ron, laughing.

"I know, I just know about the effects of alcohol too." said Hermione.

"Yeah, and that's why we're not drinking in some random place, we're just at home." said Ron, smirking.

"Oh, alright. I'll try a bit. But only a bit!" said Hermione.

* * *

Sure enough, by roughly half past eleven, Hermione was noticeably drunk. Not tipsy, but genuinely drunk. Ron and Harry of course, found it hilarious, whilst Hermione's parents were also too tipsy to notice. Mr. Weasley was staying sober so he could take them all back via the flu network.

"So in con-con- overall, I think that... wait, what was I talking about?" Hermione slurred.

Ron and Harry weren't drunk, but they weren't exactly sober either, and rolled on the floor laughing.

"Something about chocolate frogs I think!" said Ron, struggling through his laughter.

"Oh yeah! Why am I talking about chocolate frogs?" Hermione replied laughing along with them.

"Because they are a delicious, healthy snack, and you can't leave them out of your diet!" said Harry, causing the other two to laugh harder still.

Before long, just thirty seconds before the New year in fact, Ron pointed out how long it was until 1997 would begin and started the countdown for everyone. The new year duly arrived and everyone wished each other a very happy new year, spreading yet more of the holiday cheer as seen just a week earlier during Christmas.

Unsurprisingly, Ron began his new year with a very long passionate kiss with Hermione, who was more than happy to reciprocate it.

"You, Ronald Weasley... are the most beautiful man I have ever met." Hermione slurred when they broke apart.

Ron grinned and and raised an eyebrow.

"Is that so?" Ron asked, both amused and slightly aroused.

"Mhmm." said Hermione, burying her face in Ron's chest.

"Well you, Hermione Granger, are the most beautiful girl I think I'll _ever _meet." said Ron.

Hermione started to uncharacteristically giggle at this complement, though Ron was far from annoyed, especially compared to how annoying he usually found giggling girls.

"In that case, shall we head up to your room for a bit?" Hermione asked.

"I was hoping you'd ask that." Ron replied, before grabbing Hermione's hand and sneaking upstairs with her to his attic bedroom.

Hermione wasted absolutely no time before leaping onto Ron, knocking backwards onto his bed and aggressively kissed him. Ron, who was momentarily taken aback, recovered to wrap his arms around Hermione's waist.

Hermione began to make small moaning sounds which predictably made Ron's trousers extremely tight.

"What a way to start the year!" Ron said in between kisses.

"I plan on starting _every_ year like this you know." Hermione replied.

"No arguments here." said Ron, kissing her again.

Hermione chose that moment to make her intentions crystal clear, and pulled Ron's shirt of without any hesitation, before going for her own.

Ron hadn't quite noticed what was going on yet, and started to kiss her neck and collarbone.

"Mmm, Ron, don't stop!" said Hermione, before she had finally got rid of her shirt.

"Bloody hell Hermione, you're... you're- you're amazing." said Ron, upon seeing Hermione in just her bra and trousers.

Hermione heard Ron's complement, but it barely registered; she was too busy unbuttoning her jeans, which is when Ron noticed what she was trying to do.

"Wait a second, Hermione, stop." he said.

"Ron? What's wrong?" she asked.

"We can't do this _now_." said Ron.

Hermione, who hadn't felt insecure about her appearance around Ron in well over a month, suddenly felt all of her insecurities flooding back to her.

"You... you don't want me?" she asked.

"Are you mental? Have you seen yourself? I don't think there's anything I want _more!_" Ron exclaimed.

"Did... did I do something wrong? I'm sorry Ron I just haven't-" Hermione started.

"No, Hermione, calm down. It's just that I can't do this while you're still drunk!" said Ron.

"I am _not _drunk! I might be tipsy, but I'm not drunk!" Hermione replied, indignantly.

Ron rolled his eyes.

"OK then, stand up." said Ron.

Hermione got off Ron and the bed, and tried to stand up. When she did so however, the room began to spin and she fell directly back down onto Ron.

"Ron?" Hermione said.

"Yes Hermione?" Ron replied, smirking.

"I'm drunk." said Hermione.

"Yes you are. Are you feeling tired?" asked Ron.

"Now that you mention it..." Hermione began, before yawning.

"Alright, just have a lie down in my bed. I'll be back in about five minutes." said Ron, putting on his shirt.

Hermione nodded and crawled under the covers of Ron's bed.

Ron headed downstairs and found Harry talking to Hermione's parents.

"Hey Mr and Mrs. Granger? Can I talk to you for a second?" Ron asked.

"Of course, what is it Ron?" asked Mrs. Granger.

Harry headed off to talk to Remus.

"Err... has Hermione ever had alcohol before?" Ron asked.

"A little bit, but not a lot. The most I can recall her having is a beer or two when some of my friends were over to watch a football game with me. She was a little tipsy but nothing extreme." said Mr. Granger.

"Ahh. Well... she may have had a bit more than she planned tonight." said Ron.

Mr. Granger raised his eyebrow.

"What makes you think that?" he asked.

"Err... this is a bit awkward, because you're her parents and all..." Ron started.

"Ron, don't worry, unless you two did something particularly daft, we won't be angry." said Mrs. Granger.

"Well she sort of... tried to have sex with me. And when I realized that, I asked her to stand up on her own, and she couldn't do that." said Ron.

"Really?" Mr. Granger asked, looking shocked.

"You're not angry at her are you?" Ron asked.

"No, of course not, it's New year's and she's of age in the wizarding world. The only reason I'm surprised is because this is Hermione. But of course, every young adult ends up getting drunk on New Year's at some point, don't they?" Mr. Granger said.

"OK, good. She's in my bed right now, I'm not sure if she's asleep or not." said Ron.

_What a gentleman!_ Mrs. Granger thought to herself.

Ron smirked to himself. He heard Mrs. Granger's thoughts for a moment and heard her assessment of him.

"So, shall we head upstairs and see what state she's got herself into?" Mr. Granger asked his wife.

"Yes, lets. Ron, lead the way." said Mrs. Granger.

Ron nodded and lead Hermione's parents up to his room, and opened the door to see Hermione sat up in Ron's bed, with the blanket up to her lap. Ron blushed when he realized she still wasn't wearing her shirt.

Mr. Granger raised his eyebrow again, but Hermione immediately felt mortified and ashamed.

"Mum! Dad! I'm so sorry, I don't know why I had so much! Please don't be angry with Ron, he-" Hermione started.

"Hermione, relax! We're not angry, we were just a little surprised, that's all! I know Ron's only trying to take care of you. Besides, most young men and women get quite drunk during New Year's celebrations." said Mrs. Granger.

"Though I will ask you to be a bit more responsible with any alcohol in future Hermione. Do you understand?" Mr. Granger said calmly.

"Yes, of course dad, I promise." said Hermione, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Good. Actually, your mother and I were planning on leaving soon. We wouldn't mind if you stayed here for the night though. Do you want to?" Mr. Granger asked.

"Can I?" Hermione asked.

"Of course Hermione. We'll tell your parents Ron." said Mrs. Granger.

"Thanks mum, thanks dad!" said Hermione, beaming at them.

"You're welcome. We'll see you later then, happy New Year darling!" said Mr. Granger.

"Bye dad, bye mum. Happy New year!" said Hermione, before her parents headed downstairs.

Ron then sat down on the bed in front of Hermione.

"So, still feeling drunk?" Ron asked.

"Yes, but I am feeling a little better. Though I think I might go to sleep soon. Will you join me?" asked Hermione.

"Of course. I'll just tell the others." said Ron.

* * *

A few minutes later, Ron returned to his bedroom to see Hermione on the verge of falling asleep.

"Ron?" she said.

"Yeah?" replied Ron.

"Thank you." said Hermione.

"You're welcome. But what for?" Ron asked.

"I don't know, I suppose the best way to put it is... just for being _you._" said Hermione, resting her head on Ron's chest as Ron wrapped his arm around her.

"Well that's something I can keep doing." said Ron, grinning.

"Please do." said Hermione, before finally drifting off to sleep.


	12. The silver lining

**I know this is a pretty long time-skip, but for the rest of the year, what would be happening? Harry gets together with Ginny, Harry learns more about Voldemort and Ron continues to become a more powerful hyperleginimens. I'm sure you've all read the Half Blood Prince, you don't need me re-treading all of that now, do you? I think I've beaten around the bush long enough, and it's time to really get things kicked off.**

* * *

It felt like something out of a nightmare. Of all the people the brewing war would claim, no one would have expected this. Albus Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard alive, the only man Voldemort had ever feared, and arguably the most adept wizard since Merlin himself, had been killed. The culprit? Severus Snape.

Harry couldn't handle the fact that Dumbledore was dead. Ron, on the other hand couldn't handle that he didn't see it coming.

"How could I fucking miss it?" he seethed, to Harry and Hermione, the morning after the funeral.

"Ron-" Hermione started.

"Snape taught me how to read people's fucking minds Hermione! Right now I could tell you that Dean is thinking about who else could have invented twelve uses for dragon's blood. I could tell you Malfoy doesn't know what's going to happen to him, whether he'll stay with the death eaters or not. I could- I could have stopped this. I could have saved Albus fucking Dumbledore and I didn't." Ron finished.

"Ron, listen to me. You had no reason to suspect him. Besides, he told you that he would teach you but only if you didn't invade his mind. I think there was some form of respect for him growing within you during your lessons. No one ever knew his true colours until now." said Hermione, bitterly.

Ron sighed.

"I suppose you're right. So now what?" Ron asked, looking to Harry.

The three of them stood atop the astronomy tower, looking out upon the immensely beautiful grounds of Hogwarts, their school, their sanctuary, their home. Harry was particularly pensive.

"I'm not coming back." said Harry, finally, a steely determination within his voice.

"I can't say I'm surprised." said Hermione.

"I'm going to hunt down the Horcruxes. I'm going to beat him." Harry said, a fire now present in his eyes.

"_We're_ going to beat him mate." said Ron.

"What? No, I'm not putting you guys in danger ever again. The prophecy was about me, it's my responsibility. I broke up with Ginny to do this, I don't want to fuck with your relationship too! Besides, you two deserve time to be together after all the shit I've put you through!" said Harry.

"Harry, we both love you, but you can be incredibly thick sometimes." said Hermione, shaking her head fondly.

"We're in this together. You're stuck with us mate." said Ron, grinning and putting his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"I don't have any say in this, do I?" Harry relented.

"You never did." said Hermione, giving Harry a firm hug.

"Besides, if Hermione and I can survive me being... me, I reckon a hunt for some horcruxes shouldn't be too bad, don't you?" Ron asked. As they did on so many other occasions hanging out with Ron, Harry and Hermione laughed.

Harry felt daunted by the task at hand, but with Hermione's brainpower and Ron's loyalty and hyperleginimency on his side, he felt like he had a chance. Furthermore, the more immediate silver lining was that he had some last, golden moments of happiness with Ron and Hermione before the storm.

* * *

That evening, Ron and Hermione made the decision to spend more time tuning Ron's hyperleginimency in the room of requirement, though at this point, it was a formality - Ron had essentially mastered it enough to enter people's minds at will. He kept in mind the warning that spending too long in someone else's mind may lead to temporary adoption of said person's current emotional state. This was why he was always so hesitant to invade a death eater's mind or Voldemort's himself. He would have to spend somewhat of a long time in their minds to gain enough information, but didn't want to act like any of them, even for a minute. Hermione, however disagreed.

"Honestly Ron, you have this ability completely under control. I think we should take the next step." said Hermione.

"Hermione, you know why I don't want to do that." Ron said flatly.

"Yes, and quite frankly, it's not enough of a reason. It won't have any permanent effects. It will give us a huge amount of insight into their plans. I'll know that horrible things you might say aren't really you. What is there to be afraid of?" Hermione asked.

"It's not what I might say that bothers me." Ron mumbled.

"Then what is it?" Hermione asked, her face softening.

"Listen, if I take on their state of mind for even a minute, what if they're feeling particularly angry at muggleborns at that moment? I'd end up feeling the same way. I might lash out at you and you wouldn't expect it at all. I don't want to risk hurting you at all. Not for any reason." said Ron.

Hermione was touched, but exasperated at the same time.

"Ron, that's very sweet of you, but even if you attacked me, and I doubt you would do so anyway, I would be able to defend myself against you long enough for you to become yourself again. Furthermore, me getting hurt is nothing compared to what we could gain from them." Hermione explained rationally.

"I know, but it's just not something I could bring myself to do, knowing that I might end up trying to hurt you. It's one of those things you should do but just can't bring yourself to do. Think about it this way, if... say we had the chance to kill Dolohov, wouldn't logic say that we should do it? Only good could come from that fucker being dead, but I don't think I could do it. And that's fucking Dolohov, and I hate him more than damn near every other death eater for what he almost did to you. Let alone allowing a chance to hurt you." Ron explained.

"In essence, not only is it about me, it's also a moral qualm then?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." said Ron.

"Just how paranoid are you about attacking me?" Hermione asked.

"Well how much do you think I love you?" Ron asked in return.

"Point taken. But I think I have an idea. It's... somewhat extreme though." said Hermione.

"What've you got in mind?" Ron asked.

"As soon as you start invading their mind, I put you in a full body-bind curse. You'll be able to think and everything, and I'll lift the curse after five minutes." said Hermione.

"Hermione, that's bloody brilliant! Do it!" said Ron.

"I'd rather you get comfortable first, just lie down on a bed." said Hermione, as a bed materialized into the room.

Ron did so and shut his eyes, attempting to probe Voldemort's mind.

"_Pertrificus totalus!" _said Hermione, wincing as she did so.

Hermione watched as Ron opened his eyes. They moved about rapidly and eventually, his eyes widened. As Ron predicted, he did take on some of Voldemort's emotions. He looked at Hermione with nothing but venom in his eyes. In that moment, Hermione was glad Ron had thought it through so thoroughly. It also hurt to have Ron looking at her in such a manner, but she reminded herself that essentially, it was Voldemort in Ron's body. Eventually, Ron's eyes softened, which was the signal for Hermione to lift her body bind curse.

"Hermione... I'm sorry I looked at you like that. I know it wasn't totally me but still..." said Ron immediately.

Hermione kissed Ron on the cheek.

"I should have known that would be the first thing you'd say. Don't worry, you won't ever have to apologize for using these powers. I know it wasn't you. But what did you find out?" Hermione asked.

"That snake that Harry told us about? The python that hangs around You-Know-Who like some kind of pet? It's a horcrux!" said Ron.

"A living animal can be a horcrux?" Hermione asked, horrified.

"Apparently, yeah. It's called Nagini and that's why it does what he says! It _is him_!" said Ron.

"But... but how on Earth do we destroy something that's around him so often? Harry survived his duel with him by luck, and neither of us are even as good at dueling as him! He'd kill us before we could even touch the snake!" said Hermione.

"Fuck, I don't know. How do you even destroy a horcrux?" Ron asked.

Hermione bit her lip.

"I summoned a book about them. It told me what goes in to making horcruxes, it's some of the most horrible magic I've ever seen." said Hermione, shivering.

Ron put his arm around her.

"Go on." he said.

"Right, well horcruxes are of course objects with soul fragments inside, and the objects become extremely strong. To destroy one, you have to do enough damage to the object to put it in a state beyond magical repair. I can't think of any spells at all that would do the job apart from fiendfyre. And I wouldn't want to learn that kind of magic." said Hermione. Talking about the horcruxes left a bad taste in her mouth.

"Wow... well at least we have time to figure out how to destroy them. I mean, after this year, we're done. We put all our time and effort into finding and destroying them, I reckon we can do it. Well... you'll probably figure it out by yourself and spend three hours explaining it to me and Harry, while we stumble around like a pair of idiots." said Ron, smirking.

Hermione laughed for a moment.

"Don't sell yourself too short. Remember that chessboard? And when you told Harry to use liquid luck to get Slughorn's memory? You're better than Harry and I combined at thinking outside the box." said Hermione.

"Then there's also the time when you couldn't think of how to kill the devil's snare with fire without wood." Ron said, lightly elbowing Hermione and smirking at her.

"I was hoping you wouldn't bring that up... but yes." sighed Hermione.

"But hey, you single handedly dragged Harry and me through school and managed to get ten OWLs with nine O's. And you figured out the stuff with the basilisk. And got Harry through that potions room to get the philosopher's stone. And figured out Lupin's a werewolf. And saved Sirius. And taught Harry the summoning charm. And-" Ron said, grinning all the way.

"Alright Ron, I get it!" Hermione laughed, pushing Ron lightly.

"Seriously though, where would I be without you?" Ron asked, his face suddenly showing a great deal of intensity.

"I could ask you the same." Hermione whispered. She felt herself shiver with excitement at the way Ron was looking at her - with so much appreciation, respect and adoration.

"You'd have ten O's in your OWLs and a worse looking boyfriend?" Ron teased.

"Not worth the trade-off." said Hermione, before kissing Ron passionately.

Ron had an extremely strong urge to joke about Hermione preferring him to an extra Outstanding grade, but decided against it and decided to kiss Hermione back in kind.

"Fuck, you're sexy." Ron said huskily between kisses.

Hermione had essentially turned off her normal thought processes and simply said "mmm" in response.

She then began to both tug at Ron's shirt and raised her head so that Ron could begin to kiss her neck. Ron got both messages and removed his shirt before kissing Hermione's neck.

"It's been so long since we've been alone... I've missed this." said Hermione, her hands tangled in Ron's hair.

"You and me both, It drives me mental thinking about you and me doing this but not having time." Ron groaned before lifting Hermione onto his lap.

"Lavender's been jealous... she never said so out loud, but I knew all along. Care to show me why?" Hermione asked, cheekily.

Ron grinned and pulled off Hermione's shirt as well, leaving her in her bra and her skirt.

"That never gets old." said Ron. Hermione looked surprised.

"Really? This is all you've seen since we've been together, and it's been eight months!" said Hermione.

"Yeah, really." said Ron, grinning.

Hermione bit her lip for a moment.

"Do you... do you want to see more?" she asked, uncertainly.

Ron suddenly lost all of the confidence he was approaching the situation with and turned as red as his hair.

"Do I- You mean... See- Are you sure?" he asked.

"Well I want to, but do you?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Bloody hell of course I do! But you don't need to do anything you aren't ready to do, like I said on New year's day." Ron replied.

Hermione gave Ron a small smile.

"I do want to do this. Besides, at the rate I've forced us to go at, if not now, then when?" Hermione asked.

Ron could hardly believe his eyes when he saw Hermione reach around to her back and undo her bra.

_I got Hermione fucking Granger to show me her tits. I deserve a fucking medal, I'm a bloody genius! Bloody hell they're nice. Wait... what do I do now? Does she want me to touch them? Don't want to do anything to her that she doesn't want to. Wait, why's she looking at me like that? Why the fuck is she covering them up with her arms? Does she not think she's beautiful? Still? Hang on! Speak Weasley, say something you dolt!_

"You'rethemostbeautifulthingI'veeverseen." Ron blurted out.

"R-really? They aren't too small or-" Hermione started, before Ron silenced her by kissing her.

"You... you like them then?" Hermione asked, looking stunned.

"Of course I do! Can I..." Ron asked, before trailing off. Hermione did know what he was trying to say though.

"Yes, of course!" said Hermione, suddenly feeling much happier and more confident.

Ron grinned before putting Hermione down onto the bed so that she was lying, facing up. He then lay beside her wrapped one arm around her, and with his other hand, gently kneaded her breasts.

"Mmmh, that feels good." said Hermione, closing her eyes.

She looked like she was dreaming, and in that moment, Ron felt particularly proud of himself.

"Fuck I can't control myself any more." Ron said huskily, and grabbed Hermione and kissed her hard.

Hermione was taken by surprise, but didn't find this unwelcome, and soon enough found herself digging her nails into Ron's back.

"You feel bloody amazing." Ron said, before kissing his way down to Hermione's collarbone.

"Everything you're doing feels amazing. Honestly I don't care what you do now, just... have at it!" said Hermione, breathlessly.

Ron grinned before wasting absolutely no time and taking one of Hermione's nipples in his mouth.

"Oh!" Hermione said due in equal parts to surprise and pleasure.

Ron proceeded to kiss Hermione's stomach, whilst leaving his hands to continue kneading her breasts, while Hermione's hands were tangled in Ron's hair.

"You're sure you haven't done this before?" Hermione said through her gasps and moans.

"I'm going on instinct here Hermione, just glad you're enjoying this as much as I am." Ron said quickly, before kissing her lips once more.

The two of them continued to kiss for ten or so minutes longer, before Ron noticed the time on his watch.

"Fuck. Hermione, you know I'd continue if it were up to me, but it's about to be curfew time and we've got a patrol." said Ron.

Hermione was impressed that Ron was the one to notice the time and gave him one more kiss on his lips.

"That's normally my job. But since tomorrow is our last full day, do you want to come back here?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. But we've got to spend the day with Harry. It'll be our last day at Hogwarts and there's no bloody way I'm spending it with anyone who isn't you or Harry." said Ron.

Hermione's eyes started to fill with tears.

"Hermione? What's wrong?" Ron asked.

"It's what you said. Tomorrow is our last day here. I can hardly bear the thought. I met you and Harry here, I've learned so much... I'll miss it." said Hermione, trembling and trying not to cry.

Ron kissed the top of Hermione's head.

"I'll miss it too. I can't even imagine how much Harry will miss it. You and me, we've got our homes and families. Harry's got those horrible muggles. Hogwarts is really all he had." said Ron.

"That's not true. Your family has as good as adopted him. Don't tell me that you don't think of him as a brother yourself." said Hermione.

"I do. You're right. But let's not dwell too much. We knew this day was coming, just not as soon as it did. We can't get distracted either. We have a world to save." said Ron, remaining as stoic as he could.

"I love you Ron. I know I don't say it enough, but I love you so much that it used to scare me." said Hermione.

"It used to scare me too. I love you too Hermione." said Ron, before the pair of them got dressed to conduct their final patrol, also ready to face their last day at Hogwarts with Harry.


	13. Dread

Ron was someone who was used to dread at this point in his life. He dreaded the test which decided which house he'd be sorted into at Hogwarts, for fear that his brothers were telling the truth and he'd have to wrestle a troll (though he did end up doing that a mere two months later). He dreaded going through the trapdoor to confront Snape (though he was innocent at the time) over the Philosepher's Stone.

He dreaded making the move which allowed a giant stone chess queen to nearly kill him, following Harry down into the Chamber of Secrets, watching Harry go through the Triwizard tournament, follow him into a trap at the ministry of magic and telling Hermione he loved her for the first time.

However, none of that came close to what he, Harry and Hermione had planned. Hermione had erased her parents' memories and sent them to Australia for safety. The Dursleys were being taken into a safe-house. Ron wasn't sure if he was the lucky one or the unlucky one; he knew for a fact that his family would be fighting, and he was terrified for them. And Ginny would be going to Hogwarts, which was likely to be under death eater control.

But what Ron dreaded most of all was the hunt he was about to undertake. Neither he, nor Harry nor Hermione had any idea where to start. All they knew was that they'd be the three most wanted people in Britain. They'd be quite literally taking down the most powerful dark wizard alive, piece by piece.

However, he decided not to outwardly show his dread in front of anyone, albeit for different reasons. His family, because he didn't want them to know what he was actually up to, and Hermione (who was staying with him) because she had enough to worry about. At this point, they were scheming to get Harry to the Burrow safely.

Unfortunately, after all the years Hermione had spent around him, she could read him like a book.

"What's wrong?" she asked one night after a particularly quiet dinner.

The pair of them were in Ron's bed, and Hermione noticed that Ron was rather subdued, not to mention facing away from her.

"Hmm?" Ron asked nonchalantly.

"Ron, I know something's bothering you. Please, you don't have to hide anything from me." said Hermione.

"I know, but you've already got too much on your plate. And this isn't one of those things where I don't think I'm worthwhile, you seriously have too much on your plate. I mean, I've done what I can but I think you need time to sort through it all." said Ron, turning to face her, not mentioning any issues by name for fear of upsetting her.

"I won't deny that a lot's been happening." said Hermione darkly.

"But with the sheer volume of things we're having to deal with, what's one more?" she asked, suddenly sounding much more upbeat.

Ron smirked.

"You're starting to sound like me." he said.

"I haven't decided whether you're a good or bad influence yet, but I won't deny that you're having some form of influence on me." Hermione replied, smiling at him.

"Please, just talk to me. God knows we need to just be a couple for once and just talk about our feelings and be sentimental in this godforsaken summer." she said.

She was right - so much time had been spent planning for Harry's extraction, the hunt, fortifying the Burrow and Bill's wedding to Fleur that Ron and Hermione didn't have time to be... Ron and Hermione.

"Well you're not wrong... but shouldn't we start with you? From where I am, I think you're worse off right now. My brother's getting married while your family don't even know that they're your family." Ron blurted out.

A flash of pain appeared on Hermione's face, before she recovered. Ron did notice though.

"Fucking hell what's wrong with me?" he asked, inwardly cursing his remarkable ability to talk without thinking.

"No, it's alright. And I don't think we need to start with me. You spent two days waiting on me hand and foot, comforting me when I arrived. I was an absolute mess, just randomly bursting into tears and you solved it single-handedly. It does still hurt, but I'm definitely past the worst of it." Hermione told Ron, looking at him appreciatively.

Ron felt himself swell up with pride for a moment before bringing himself back down to earth.

"Yeah well what was I supposed to do?" he asked.

"You could have focused on the wedding, the hunt, Harry's extraction, and I wouldn't have begrudged you for it, but you chose to be with me. Why should I act any different?" Hermione asked.

"You never stop making sense, do you?" Ron asked.

"It's a blessing and a curse." Hermione replied, jokingly.

"Alright, I'll give. So in a nutshell, I'm sort of worried about what we're going to do. You know, after the wedding. The hunt and all that. Don't worry, I don't regret choosing to do this, but it doesn't stop me dreading it." said Ron.

"I'd be shocked if you weren't dreading it." Hermione commented.

"Yeah, but you see, the thing is, every other time we do something completely barmy, we have some sort of plan, don't we? I mean the plans don't always go right, but we at least know what we're trying to do. Now though, we don't have a bloody idea where to start. I'm worried we're going to be running around like headless chickens, risking our arses for nothing because we have nothing to go on, while my family is fighting and making an actual difference. I want to... contribute, you know?" Ron said.

"You aren't wrong, but you aren't totally right either. We do know some things, and I'm sure when Harry gets here, we'll be able to coordinate properly. They'll be hidden in places of meaning to him, and they'll be objects that are of some genuine significance. We know that one of them is Salazar Slytherin's locket, so aside from Gryffindor's sword, I'm positive that artefacts that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw will be horcruxes too." said Hermione.

Ron lay there, looking at Hermione, his mouth wide open.

"How do you figure this stuff out?" he asked.

Hermione's cheeks began to redden.

"It wasn't that hard." she said, in a small, but very flattered voice.

"You're not ever going to stop surprising me, are you?" Ron asked.

"I hope not, I have to keep you interested, don't I?" Hermione said, winking suggestively.

"Oh please, you could do that in your sleep. But anyway, what else have you got on this?" Ron asked eagerly.

"Well the way I see it, the real issue comes with destroying them, like I said at the end of the last academic year. We don't have basilisk fangs lying around, we can't use fiendfyre, and I can't think of anything else." said Hermione.

"If Hogwarts was less well defended, I'd say we break in, get to the chamber and get the fangs ourselves." Ron mused.

"Thats... Ron, that's brilliant!" Hermione said aloud.

"What... really? I was just thinking out loud..." said Ron.

"Absolutely! If we ever get the chance to get back into Hogwarts, we've won!" Hermione said, kissing Ron's cheek enthusiastically.

"Blimey you're right! But we have to focus on finding them first, don't we?" said Ron.

"Yes, and I say when Harry arrives, we get to writing down a list of places we need to visit, places which may have held significance for Voldemort where he might have hidden horcruxes." said Hermione.

"I agree. By the way, isn't it ironic? He thinks he's some all-powerful being, but his arrogance might literally kill him." said Ron.

"How so?" Hermione asked.

"If he's hiding his horcruxes in places important to him, then he's being predictable, just because he thinks places he's been are safe enough." Ron said. Hermione still looked confused.

"Don't you see? He's making it all about him, and we've figured that out, and even if we fail, he left a massive hole in his defences because of it!" said Ron.

"That's true! You're on a roll tonight too you know?" Hermione said.

"I do try." said Ron, smirking.

"Alright, don't let it get to your head." said Hermione, poking him in the chest.

"Ok, Ok, I'll just be happy with being a genius in _your_ eyes." said Ron, grinning as the pair of them fell into a comfortable silence.

"You were definitely right you know. We needed this." said Ron.

"Blessing and a curse." Hermione repeated, resting her head on Ron's chest.

"Well tomorrow let's hope it's a blessing. Harry's going to need some of that if he's getting here in one piece." said Ron.

"Don't worry, we'll get him." said Hermione.

"I know." said Ron.

* * *

Retrieving Harry was not the roaring success they had planned. Mad-eye was dead, George lost an ear and no one arrived when expected. There was an ambush, but no one knew where the leak came from. After a somber toast to Mad-eye, everyone headed off to sleep, aside from Harry and Ron, though Harry didn't know Ron was awake. Harry decided then and there that he wasn't going to let Ron or Hermione come with him and risk themselves. He grabbed his bag and left, but Ron caught on to him.

"Going somewhere?" came Ron's voice from behind Harry.

Harry inwardly cursed.

"Nobody else is dying for me." Harry said with finality.

"This isn't about you. Mad-eye didn't die for you, and George didn't take that curse for you. Chosen one or not, this is bigger than you, and just because the mission was to get you, doesn't mean that it's all for you. Plus this survivor's guilt thing isn't going to help you if you're out there on your own. And while I'm on that, you can't tell me that you think you'd last more than a day without Hermione."

Harry stayed silent. Ron was certainly right about how much Hermione brought to the table. He couldn't help but notice that Ron didn't bring himself into the equation yet again. Always the humble one apparently. Either that or he still didn't know how much he was worth.

"Besides, there's the wedding-" Ron began.

"I don't care about a wedding, no matter whose wedding it is. Fuck, I wouldn't care if it was my own wedding, I _need _to find these horcruxes, and fast." said Harry.

"I know. But if you went tonight, you wouldn't be doing anyone a favour but _him._" said Ron.

With that, Harry dropped his bag. Ron came over to him and picked it up and put his arm around Harry's shoulder.

"Mum's going to have us working until our skin falls off. You'll need the sleep." he said, smiling at Harry, who returned the smile and followed Ron back inside.

When they reached Ron's bedroom in the attic, they were greeted by Hermione, who had woken up. She didn't look happy in the slightest.

"I should have expected this." she said, her eyes narrowed angrily at Harry.

"Hermione-" Ron began.

"You and your..._stupid hero complex!"_ she interrupted

Harry looked particularly ashamed of himself.

"We promised to come with you and we've spent the past month planning and sorting things out so we could do this, only for you to try and leave?" Hermione seethed.

Harry looked to Ron.

"Ron? What did you do?" Harry asked.

"C'mon. I'll show you." said Ron, who took them up a ladder into the attic, where the Weasley's ghoul was stood, now with Red hair resembling Ron's and wearing a set of Ron's pyjamas.

"What the fuck is this?" Harry asked, completely confused.

"It's me. At least, it's meant to be me. You see, I'm pretending to be ill with spattergroit for the sake of anyone apart from you two. That gives me a reason to not be at Hogwarts, and since the ghoul looks like it's got spattergroit, I just made some changes to make him look like me." Ron explained.

"Ron... you didn't have to go this far." said Harry, feeling more guilty still.

"Actually I did. I didn't want to tell you because of this very reason, I knew you'd feel guilty. But what I did was nothing. Wait until Hermione explains what she did. And yes, she didn't want to tell you because of the same reasons as me." said Ron.

Harry looked to Hermione. He found it extremely difficult to look her in the eye. She looked particularly upset.

"I... my parents. I had to protect them." she said, in an extremely small voice.

Harry looked alarmed.

"Hermione, what happened?" Harry asked.

"I sent them away... They're in Australia." she replied.

"What? How?" Harry pressed.

Hermione now looked on the verge of tears.

"I erased their memories with an _obliviate_ and replaced their identities with Wendell and Monica Wilkins. A muggle couple who had always dreamed of moving to Australia. So they did." said Hermione in an emotionless tone.

"So if you get any more _brilliant_ ideas of leaving us to 'protect' us, you'd better think again!" said Hermione, once again looking furious.

Before she could go on another rage-induced rant, Ron interjected.

"Besides, if we weren't with you, we'd be in danger anyway. Everyone knows we're your best friends. In any case, they'll be on the hunt for Hermione since she's muggle-born, and for me because I sympathize with muggles and muggleborns, same as my family." said Ron, much more calmly than Hermione would have at this stage.

"But Hermione it doesn't matter, I explained to him that he didn't need to leave without us anyway." said Ron.

"I know, but I wanted the notion completely out of your head" Hermione told Harry.

"Believe me, it is." said Harry.

"Good. Now go to sleep." Hermione said, sternly.

"Yes mum." Ron joked.


	14. Thrown into darkness

Bill and Fleur's wedding was an occasion for which the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione had been preparing an extremely long time. From food, to seating, to setting up a very decorative and beautiful marquee, it was all to create a scene which Fleur was nearly brought to tears by when she finally arrived in her bride's dress.

Normally, Fleur's absurd beauty made everyone else in the room look positively boring and unattractive in comparison. Somehow, today, everyone looked more beautiful as soon as she walked into the room. However, for the first time, Ron could simply appreciate Fleur's beauty for what it was, without fixating upon her.

He was too busy gawking at Hermione when she appeared in a form-fitting red dress.

Harry of course, found it hilarious, and elbowed him in the gut to snap him out of it. He was supposed to be in a wedding ceremony, and a groomsman no less.

The ceremony put Mrs. Weasley in tears, and nearly did the same to Hermione and even Ginny.

Soon enough though, the celebrations could actually begin.

Ron of course, went straight to Harry and Hermione.

"You know, after everything we've already been through, and everything that's going on right now... it feels good to be able to just celebrate a wedding." said Ron.

"Not to mention everything we're about to do. At least we had one last opportunity to just... let loose and be happy." said Harry.

"Here's to hoping we survive to see many more occasions just like this." said Hermione.

"Definitely. By the way, Hermione... you know, Slughorn's party didn't feel like properly making up for what I did at the Yule ball. Shall we?" a grinning Ron said, holding his hand out for Hermione, who was now sporting a ridiculous grin on her face.

"It would be my pleasure." she said, taking his hand and following him onto the dance floor.

Ginny, meanwhile looked like she was dressed specifically to keep Harry's eyes on her, and not the multitude of extremely attractive friends and family Fleur had invited. It was obviously working, and made slightly worse when she came to him with two glasses of wine.

"Something tells me you're going to need this." she said, handing Harry one.

"What makes you say that?" Harry asked.

"It's a wedding and you look like you're at a damn funeral." said Ginny.

"Sorry. It's just hard for me not to focus on what I need to do." said Harry.

"Believe me, I know that better than anyone." said Ginny, letting the double meaning seep through her words.

Harry immediately look guilty.

"You know that if I didn't have to-" he started.

"I know. For what it's worth, when you beat him, I'll be waiting." said Ginny, kissing Harry on the cheek.

Harry let out a small smile, knowing that he had yet another truly worthwhile thing waiting for him.

"Running around doing whatever it is you're doing isn't going to be easy with those two if they start going at it like a pair of Hippogriffs." said Ginny.

Harry chuckled for a moment.

"I'll be fine. Just so long as I don't get a glimpse of your brother's pasty white arse, it'll be fine." said Harry, causing Ginny to snort into her drink, spilling some of it on her dress.

"Sorry!" Harry said, laughing. He was not sorry at all. He could also hear Ron laughing from the dance floor.

He looked over to see Hermione doing the same, laughing into Ron's chest, as Ron held her up. Clearly everyone was in an absolutely brilliant mood.

"Oh you're going to have to make it up to me Potter." said Ginny with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Well it's red wine and you're wearing a red dress... you can't splill red wine on my white shirt!" Harry challenged, grinning.

"Oh, can't I?" Ginny asked. Before they could do whatever it is they were planning on doing, they were interrupted by a patronus. It took the form of a lynx, and through it, spoke none other than Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"The ministry has fallen. The minister is dead. They know where you are. They are coming." he said.

After a few seconds of pregnant silence, the wedding turned into a scene of absolute chaos. People were scrambling to get to their loved ones to apparate away.

Not long afterwards, death eaters began arriving.

Curses began flying in every direction, and Harry desperately tried to drag Ginny to safety, but he was stopped by Lupin.

"I'll take her! Find Ron and Hermione! Go!" he yelled.

Harry and Ginny exchanged one last look in which they tried to tell each other everything they wanted to. In that moment, Harry finally knew it. He loved Ginny. And she loved him.

He had no time to dwell though - he felt Ron roughly grab him and the pair of them sprinted to Hermione, who immediately apparated them away, into muggle London.

"Fuck..." said Ron.

"Where are we?" Harry asked, looking at Hermione.

"Shaftsebury Avenue. I used to come to the theater here with my mum and dad. I don't know why I chose here, it just... popped into my head." said Hermione.

"We need to get out of sight." said Ron, who dragged the other two into an alleyway.

"We can't be wearing this stuff for too long. We'll draw attention." said Harry.

Hermione had that covered. She pulled out a small beaded bag, and put her hand... then her entire arm into it.

"What the-" Harry started.

"Undetectable extension charm." said Hermione, throwing the boys some clothes, before pulling out some of her own.

Harry and Ron duly looked away and covered all view of her as Hermione got out of her dress and into more comfortable clothes.

Eventually, they started walking along the road, trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible.

A group of obviously drunk men walked past them, wolf whistling upon seeing Hermione.

"Hey there love! Why don't you ditch ginger and come have a pint with us?" one of them called.

Ron shook his head in exasperation.

"Idiots." he said to himself.

Hermione ignored them and as expected, they posed no real threat.

The three of them made their way down the street and eventually found an open coffee shop.

They sat down at a table and began discussing the next moves.

"There's definitely a leaker in the order. They can't have known where he wedding was taking place." Ron said in a low voice.

"We've known that for a while though. All we know now is that we don't get to expect any resistance from the ministry. The death eaters have control over wizarding Britain." said Hermione.

Harry's stomach suddenly dropped.

"My bag... all my stuff, it's back at the burrow!" he said in frustration.

Hermione shook her head.

"Your bag is in here. Yours too Ron." she said, taking out her tiny beaded bag.

"You're joking..." Harry said. Ron was right. What the hell would either of them do without her?

"I've had all the essentials packed for days." said Hermione.

"Books included." Ron quipped.

Hermione glared at him. Now was obviously not the time.

"Sorry." he said.

Soon enough, a pair of burly looking workmen walked into the shop. They never faced Harry, Ron and Hermione and simply walked up to the counter, waiting for an employee.

Ron's eyes narrowed at them, before he pulled his wand out with alarming speed.

"Petrificus totalus!" he called, casting a petrifying charm so strong that it knocked both of the men out cold in an instant.

"Ron! What are you doing?" Hermione yelled.

"They're death eaters. Something seemed fishy as soon as they walked in. They didn't look around the shop, they didn't look at us. Their right hands were in their pockets, so I read their minds. It's Dolohov and Rowle." said Ron.

Hermione and Harry's eyes widened before they looked at the unconscious bodies. Indeed, it was.

Just then, the person working at the shop arrived at the scene, and looked shocked beyond belief at what she saw.

"Leave!" Hermione ordered. The girl did not need telling twice.

"I can't believe you could think that fast." Harry said, not knowing whether to be scared or impressed.

"It was just a hunch as soon as they walked in. I can't take any risks." said Ron.

"You were brilliant. Who knows what could have happened?" Hermione asked.

"More importantly, how did they find us?" Harry asked.

"Fuck knows. But what do we do with them?" Ron asked, looking at the death eaters with nothing but hatred in his eyes.

"We should wipe their memories. We can't risk anyone else finding out where we are." said Harry.

Hermione nodded, before standing up and pointing her wand at them.

"Obliviate." she said.

It was obvious to both Harry and Ron that Hermione couldn't help but think about when she did the same to her parents.

Ron put an arm around her shoulder, and he could feel her shaking slightly.

"Thank you." she whispered. Ron kissed the top of her head.

"We have to get off the streets. Somewhere where we won't be found." said Harry.

"The old headquarters." Ron said immediately, not using the name of Grimmaud place, in case they were being watched.

Harry and Hermione agreed immediately. They were secret keepers, and if Snape thought about searching that place, he'd have done it by now.

"Grab on." Hermione said, before apparating them to the street opposite Grimmaud place.

After a run-in with a ghostly apparition that appeared to be Dumbledore, Hermione pulled out her wand.

"Homenum revelio." she said. The three of them waited for a moment before concluding that they were alone.

* * *

It didn't take long for them to settle themsevles into Grimmaud place. They chose not to actually sleep in bedrooms that night however. In spite of Hermione's hemonum revelio, they felt too paranoid to be alone that night. They slept in a living room, with Harry taking a sofa, Ron taking the floor with some blankets, and Hermione taking another sofa. Ron had insisted upon Hermione taking the sofa in a sudden but predictable bout of chivalry. Harry thought to himself that he just wanted to be able to see her under the moonlight.

The next morning, however, Harry awoke (extremely early, at about four in the morning) with Hermione still on the sofa, but with Ron nowhere to be found.

Careful not to wake Hermione, Harry silently got up out of the sofa, and looked around.

"Harry?" he heard Ron's voice calling.

Harry tiptoed towards the direction from which Ron's voice was calling.

"Keep your voice down, Hermione's still sleeping." he said, when he finally reached Ron, standing outside a bedroom.

"Right. My bad. But look, I think I might have found R.A.B." said Ron, pointing at the door.

The door had a label, presumably the name of the person who used to live in that room.

Regulus Arcturus Black.

"You know... you could be right." Harry said.

"Reason I'm so sure is because Sirius always said that his family was all about the dark arts and You know who's message. This Regulus Bloke could've gotten involved but then got cold feet and stole the horcrux." said Ron.

"That does make sense. But... how could we be sure?" Harry asked.

"Reckon it's worth waking Hermione for?" Ron asked.

"Absolutely. This could be a real lead." said Harry. Ron nodded, and the two of them went to Hermione, who as it turned out, was already awake.

"Guys, come here!" she whispered urgently.

Harry and Ron looked at each other and swiftly moved towards Hermione, who was kneeling on the sofa, looking out of the window. It was still dark out, but they could clearly see what Hermione was looking at.

Two tall death eaters were standing across the street. They were staring right at Hermione, but it was clear that they couldn't see her.

"They know we're here." Hermione whispered, as if the death eaters could hear her if she spoke louder.

"Snape's probably told the death eaters about this place. Good thing we've got a fidelius charm here." said Harry.

"We've got to be careful. We definitely can't use this as a base for us to work out of." said Ron.

"It's safe enough for now, but we do need to think about moving. If Snape gets wind of where we are, we're done. Ron, can you read their minds?" Hermione asked.

"No, I can't. I don't even know who they are. I have to sort of understand a person before I can read their minds." said Ron.

Hermione sighed.

"Let's just hope they lose interest." she said.

"That aside, Hermione, we might have worked out who R.A.B is." said Harry.

Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"It could've been Sirius' brother, Regulus Arcturus Black." Harry explained.

Hermione thought for a moment.

"It would add up. But the issue comes with finding out where he left the locket. He died a while back if that note is anything to go by." said Hermione.

Ron's stomach started grumbling.

"Can we discuss this over breakfast?" he asked, grinning sheepishly.

Hermione shook her head fondly.

"Come on, I'll cook." she said, heading off to the kitchen.

Ron and Harry followed Hermione into the kitchen, and sat down at the now somewhat dusty table.

"Scourgify." Harry said absent mindedly.

"So, Regulus Black takes the locket. Where would he go with it? Would he actually bring it back here?" Ron asked hypothetically.

"Possibly. But it does seem like a strange decision. Bringing something that dangerous to your home." Hermione mused.

"How old was he when he took it?" Harry asked.

Neither Ron nor Hermione had any educated guess.

"Sirius never talked about his brother." Ron said.

"Probably another thing added to the massive list of things Sirius found too painful to talk about." Harry grumbled.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other. Clearly Harry still wasn't fully recovered from his beloved godfather's death, but Harry was not wrong. Sirius' life was a heartbreaking story. Weaker men in Sirius' position would have committed suicide, or have been driven utterly mad, even outside the presence of dementors.

Before Ron could speak up and re-focus them on the matter at hand, a creaking sound could be heard coming from nearby, and immediately, the trio pulled their wands out.

"Wait a second..." Harry said.

"What?" Ron whispered.

"Kreacher, come out!" Harry called, and sure enough, the old elf apparated into the room, bowing before his master.

"Master Potter." he said.

Ron and Hermione exchanged looks. How did he know?

"Have you been spying on us?" Harry asked, sternly.

"Not spying master. Kreacher is alone in the house of Black." he said.

Hermione took pity on the lonely creature.

"Harry, he's been alone all this time. His only loyalty is to you now." she said, careful to avoid mentioning Sirius.

Kreacher gave Hermione a dirty look but didn't disagree.

"Harry, he can answer our questions about Regulus Black." said Ron.

"Master Regulus..." Kreacher said, his normally angry eyes widening and becoming soft.

"You knew him then. Have you ever seen this?" Harry asked, pulling the fake locket out from his pocket.

Kreacher grimaced.

"Master Regulus' locket." said Kreacher.

"But there were two of them, did you ever see the other one?" Hermione pressed eagerly.

"Filthy mudblood, she befouls the house of-"Kreacher started. Before his tirade could continue, Harry stared him down commandingly.

"Kreacher. Answer her question." he said.

"Yes." he said reluctantly.

"Is it still here?" Ron asked.

"No. It was stolen." said Kreacher.

"Stolen? When? By who?" Harry asked. His first real lead... this could not go to waste under any circumstances.

"He came the night before master arrived. He took many things, including the locket. Mundungus Fletcher." said Kreacher.

Harry's blood boiled. Mundungus Fletcher had yet again stolen Sirius' stuff. Had he no shame?

"Find him." Harry commanded. Kreacher bowed and apparated away.

"So now what? We just wait for Kreacher?" Ron asked.

"Pretty much. Though you'll have to hold me back when he comes back, or I might strangle Dung." Harry said, gritting his teeth.

Ron sighed.

"You'll have to control yourself better around Dung. Like him or not, and believe me, I don't he's useful." said Ron.

"Right, because having him nick our stuff from under our noses is so-"Harry started.

"Someone with his skills is useful. He can be stealthy. He's close to the ground, and he can gain information." Hermione interrupted.

Harry stayed silent. Ron and Hermione were not wrong, but he didn't like it all the same.

The three of them ate breakfast in silence, with wary glances coming Harry's way from time to time.

He didn't look to be in a particularly volatile state, but he clearly wasn't in a good mood. If his behaviour in their fifth year was anything to go by, they'd have to give Harry a wide berth until some good news came their way. But who knew how long it would be before something like that happened?


	15. The Unspoken Truth

Not two hours later, Kreacher returned with Mundungus and to everyone's surprise, Dobby. About thirty seconds were spent on greeting the happy elf before the trio turned to Mundungus, who was quivering in his boots.

Harry took out the fake locket and looked at Mundungus with an intense and furious look on his face.

"Last time you were here and nicked a bunch of Sirius' stuff- don't deny it!" Harry said when Mundungus raised his hand to dispute the statement.

"Did you see another one of these?" Harry said, raising the locket.

"Why? Was it valuable?" Mundungus asked, his eyes glinting.

"You still have it?" Hermione pressed.

Ron gave Mundungus a dirty look. He didn't even need to read his mind to make his next assessment.

"No, he's worried he didn't get enough money for it." Ron said, his voice dripping with disgust.

"Had to bleedin' give it away, didn't I?" Mundungus mumbled.

"Who to?" Harry asked.

"Some old Ministry hag. There I was, floggin' me wares down in Diagon Alley, and she shows up, and threatens to shut me down and lock me up. She'd have done it too, if she hadn't taken a fancy to that locket." said Mundgungus.

"Who was it though?" Harry asked, starting to get impatient.

"I dunno, I just sort of remember her face." said Mundungus.

"Alright, I'm out of patience." said Ron, who shut his eyes for a second. When he opened them, he was grimacing.

"Dolores fucking Umbridge." said Ron.

"What? How did-"Mundungus started.

"Just leave Dung. Don't let me catch you with any more stolen stuff. You don't have any more useful information right now, so I don't have much of a reason to be civil any more." Harry said dangerously.

Mundungus didn't need telling twice, and ran out of the door, before apparating.

Kreacher and Dobby also gave low bows and apparated away.

"Ron, are you sure?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. I read his mind, and he was remembering himself giving the locket away. He gave it to fucking Umbridge. So now we have to break into the bloody ministry of magic, steal from one of the biggest pieces of shit to walk into that building, and a bloody horcrux, no less, and get out without being caught, all the while probably being the three most wanted people in wizarding Britain." said Ron.

"Sounds about right." Harry mumbled.

"Well then, I suggest we get to work on constructing a viable plan, don't you?" Hermione said sharply.

The boys looked slightly sheepish.

"Grumbling about will do no good. We should start with the horcrux itself. What do we all know about it?" Hermione asked.

"Destroying the thing isn't going to be easy. Basilisk fangs we might go and get if we get a chance to go back to Hogwarts, and the sword... who knows where the hell that thing is?" said Ron.

"Riddle's memory tried to stop me before I tried to stab his diary. The horcrux will definitely fight back when we try to destroy it." said Harry.

"Good. What else? Is there a way to detect them?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know. I know we won't be able to summon it." said Harry.

Harry, Ron and Hermione spent hours planning for every possible encounter they'd have at the ministry, under the assumption that they'd be disguised as Ministry workers. Which ministry workers they'd be posing as was still open, but they knew that at least someone in magical law enforcement would likely be a good bet.

They decided to turn in early that night - no doubt the day they had ahead would be long and extremely difficult, and no doubt extremely dangerous.

This night though, they felt ready enough to sleep in actual beds. Ron and Hermione took one of the guest rooms, the ones that Ron's parents had used two years prior. Harry couldn't bring himself to sleep in Sirius' old room, and slept in another guest room.

They had been afraid before of the many suicidal things they'd tried to do, such as going through the trapdoor after the philosopher's stone in first year or trying to save Sirius from Voldemort himself in fifth year. But to Hermione especially, this time was different. Despite being in a warm, comfortable bed with Ron, she found herself tossing and turning for quite a while. Eventually, she gave up and decided to try and talk to Ron.

"Ron? Are you awake?" Hermione whispered.

"Sort of. What's going on?" Ron asked, sounding rather sleepy.

"Oh, you're almost asleep, I shouldn't-"Hermione started.

"If something's bothering you, you do realise you can tell me, right?" Ron said, sounding much less tired immediately.

"I know, but I don't want to be a burden." said Hermione.

"It's not a burden Hermione, if something's bothering you, it's important. Simple as that." said Ron firmly.

"Alright. Well, the thing is I'm just... scared." said Hermione.

"I'd be surprised if you weren't. But what scares you the most right now?" Ron asked.

"I don't know... just everything about the current situation. War I suppose. We can't outsmart war, we can't hex or curse war, and we can't ever fully protect ourselves from it. The fact that we're doing... what can only be described as covert missions in the midst of a war that's being fought over the rights of people like me to even exist..." Hermione said.

Ron realised that Hermione's eyes were welling up with tears just from the sound of her voice, and so he turned to face her and embraced her.

"You know you're smarter than any of those fucks who want to kill you right? If you don't out-hex any of them, you'll probably bore them out with a house elf rights lecture. They won't want to mess with you if they get a taste of what Hermione Granger is really made of." said Ron, smirking at her.

Hermione, in spite of beginning to cry, let out a small laugh.

"Plus, you know I won't let them get anywhere near you. I promised myself when this all started that I'd see to it that you survive, and I don't care what I have to do for that to happen." said Ron firmly.

Hermione didn't like the implications of what that statement meant.

"Ron..." she started.

"I know what you're going to say. I shouldn't be looking for a reason to sacrifice myself. Believe me, I'd like to survive all this. But if there's a choice between saving myself or you, it's a no-brainer. Things get a bit more complicated when Harry's thrown into the mix of course, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm dying before anyone even gets close to killing either of you two." said Ron.

"You know I'd do the same, don't you? I think that puts us at an impasse." said Hermione.

Ron paused for a moment.

"I know. What I'm getting at is that we're all scared, but I think, because this war is really about people like you, it's better overall if you outlive me in it. Sends a bit of a message if you know what I mean. A pureblood dying for a muggleborn. Plus, there's no bloody way I'd be able to live without you." said Ron, cupping Hermione's cheek.

"You're made of stronger stuff than that. And I don't care about what message it sends. You are arguably the most amazing person I've ever met, and certainly the person who's had the most profound effect on who I am today. Without you... I don't know what I'd be right now. I don't think I'd have a strong grasp of what's _really _important in life." said Hermione.

"I think you would. Yeah, without me no one would be giving you a swift kick up the arse to tell you when stuff outside school and work needs your attention, but you'd be able to figure it out for yourself." said Ron.

"I sometimes think you give me too much credit." said Hermione, shuffling closer to Ron until her head was at his chest. Ron wrapped his arms around her.

"I don't. I sometimes think you don't give yourself enough." said Ron.

"Look who's talking." said Hermione, looking up to face him.

"Yeah, yeah I know, but come on, you'd do fine without me. I can't say the same about myself." said Ron.

"I could. Perhaps you'd have gained a grade or two lower in the OWLs that you don't even care about, but you underestimate yourself a lot as well." said Hermione.

"Or so I've heard." said Ron, grinning at Hermione.

"In a way though... I'm glad. I've never been someone who has a lot of patience for arrogance." said Hermione.

"Here I was thinking it was just the hair." said Ron.

Hermione stayed silent for a few seconds before bursting out into laughter.

"In all honesty, it's more... your entire being." said Hermione once she'd stopped laughing.

"Same goes for you. You've been my girlfriend for like... ten months and I still can't stop thinking about you. That can't be normal." said Ron.

"No... I daresay it isn't. Mind you I think it far outdoes what a normal relationship is like. I still attribute that to the way you've been with me." said Hermione.

"How's that?" Ron asked.

"Patient, understanding, considerate... attractive." said Hermione.

"Sounds like those first three wouldn't normally be used to describe me." said Ron.

"Before you actively tried to grow up, I certainly wouldn't have. That being said, it didn't make me any more capable of controlling my feelings for you." said Hermione.

"Good to know we've been on the same page for longer than needed." said Ron, smiling.

"Sometimes I find myself cursing cats, rats and Bulgarian Quidditch players." said Hermione.

"Emphasis goes to the Bulgarian Quidditch players I hope." said Ron.

"Especially Bulgarian Quidditch players." Hermione whispered, leaning forwards.

Ron put his arm around Hermione's waist and pulled her closer to himself, and met her lips with his own. Hermione responded by rolling on top of him.

"Ron, I don't know how this is going to sound given the circumstances but... how far do you want to go tonight?" Hermione asked.

"Rather not think about it. Just stop me when you think we should stop." said Ron, with a rather obvious hunger in his eyes.

Hermione thought that made enough sense, and so decided to start kissing Ron again.

Ron's hand slid under Hermione's shirt, but before he could do anything else, they heard what was in that moment, the absolute worst thing they could have heard.

Harry was knocking on the door.

Hermione groaned loudly in frustration, and Ron shut his eyes and sighed.

Apparently Harry had heard Hermione.

"Err... is it a bad time?" he asked.

"Yeah, but come in anyway." Ron called.

Harry slowly opened the door as if he was walking in on Ron and Hermione having sex (though had he given it twenty minutes, that would have been a distinct possibility.

"Sorry... I just found something and..." Harry said, trailing off.

Hermione rolled off Ron and got off the bed.

"Come on Ron, let's check out whatever this is." said Hermione.

Ron slowly and reluctantly, Ron followed Hermione to the door.

"Yeah... sorry for interrupting, and you know I wouldn't have unless something... you know, worthwhile showed up." said Harry.

"We know. Just try and make it quick, alright?" Hermione asked.

Ron smirked at the implications of Hermione wanting to hurry up.

"Well actually it's just these." said Harry, pulling two (what looked like) pieces of paper out of his pocket.

It turned out that he found half of a photograph, with the other half completely missing, and a letter. The letter was from his mother, addressed to Sirius.

"Oh..." Hermione said, immediately feeling quite insensitive.

The photograph showed a tiny, baby Harry, zooming around on a tiny toy broomstick, in and out of the torn frame. A pair of legs could be seen, they looked like they belonged to James Potter.

"I know this isn't helpful. It's just... weird you know? My mum wrote this. I haven't even met her and yet it just feels..." Harry started.

Ron and Hermione had the sneaking suspicion that Harry was holding back tears.

"It's not weird. Sirius meant a lot to you, and whether you met your mum or not, she'll obviously mean a lot to you. Everyone keeps saying that you're basically your dad walking around, and there's not a whole lot of your mum physically left, so... yeah." Ron said lamely.

"I wish I could see the other half of this." said Harry.

"I do too. Harry I'm sorry I was annoyed when you knocked." said Hermione.

"No, that's fine, you didn't know what this was about. I just felt like you two should get to see it. I mean I haven't exactly got a family in name, so I felt like I should show it to my family in practice." Harry said.

"Bring it in." said Ron, opening his arms wide.

Harry, Ron and Hermione all hugged each other. For whatever physical attraction Ron and Hermione had for each other, even the love they had for each other, the unspoken, non-negotiable fact of the matter was that the three of them were friends first.

And they always would be.


End file.
